The UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel is to publish a 10-year pipeline of expected new bus orders “shortly”, Minister for Roads and Buses Simon Lightwood told a Westminster Hall debate on UK bus manufacturing on 27 January.
Development of that pipeline has been a primary function of the Panel, which held its first meeting in early 2025. The Department for Transport (DfT) has previously claimed that it will give UK bus manufacturers the long-term certainty needed to invest and grow.
Mr Lightwood says that the Panel “has worked tirelessly” since formation with a focus on three objectives: supporting the growth of UK bus builders, developing the pipeline to give them confidence to invest, and prioritising passenger-centric vehicle design.
As that task-and-finish exercise draws to a close, “I can already see the tangible differences it has made,” Mr Lightwood adds. He acknowledges the biggest obstacle to manufacturers having been lack of visibility of future demand, with peaks and troughs and uncertainty that impacts investment.
“The bus order pipeline is well advanced in development, aggregating likely industry demand for the next decade,” the minister continues.
“It will offer for the first time a national forward look at the buses that we expect local authorities and operators to need. That degree of certainty can be transformational, giving our domestic manufacturers the confidence to hire, innovate, and compete globally.”
Euan Stainbank, MP for the Falkirk constituency within which Alexander Dennis has major yet currently-paused manufacturing capacity, secured the debate. He has welcomed news of the pipeline’s imminent release. Mr Stainbank has also attacked the previous government for what he says was failing to “stand up” for domestic bus manufacturing.
In his response to the debate, Mr Lightwood explained how from launch of the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel, social value “was a key theme that emerged.” He adds how at that point, there was a 5% weighing for social value from mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) in bus procurement.
However, at an extraordinary meeting in July 2025, those MCAs were in “broad agreement” that social value weighting would lift to at least 10%. “So far, I am pleased to say that that is now happening,” Mr Lightwood continues.
Such a position forms part of guidance on bus franchising for local transport authorities in England that was updated on 29 January. Noted is how DfT wants “to strengthen the emphasis and consideration of social value criteria, across the UK, when MCAs are purchasing buses.”
It continues: “Our expectation is that social value criteria would form a minimum of 10% of bus procurement weighting,” and adds how emphasising that will benefit UK builders.
Mr Lightwood adds that the Panel was challenged to focus on “meaningful social value, ensuring that procurement is designed in a way that best delivers real social and economic value that supports the government’s missions.”
Transport for London is among the authorities to commit to exploring social value commitments in bus procurement. Other items to be considered by mayors and authorities will be price, reliability, build quality, delivery time, and aftersales support.
Mr Stainbank wants the social value weighting to reach 30%. That would be “a material intervention both from national and local funding to procurement,” he says, although the Falkirk MP acknowledges the “substantial progress” achieved by Mr Lightwood in lifting it to 10%.
