Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published on 28 July 2021, how much funding was awarded to help the smallest bus companies to provide audible and visible information on services in 2021 in addition to the £2 million already committed and (b) if he will publish a list of companies which received this additional funding.

The National Disability Strategy aims to improve disabled people’s everyday lives and to take action to create a society that works for everyone so we can build back better, and fairer.

Within the Strategy, the government has committed to introducing Regulations by Summer 2022 to require bus companies to provide audible and visible announcements onboard their services in Great Britain, subject to final analysis. To support small operators to comply with the Regulations, the government has allocated a further £1.55 million in 2021, on top of the £2 million allocated in 2018, to the Real Time Information Group (RTIG) to distribute to those operators that most need it. The government expects that the names of the beneficiaries of this funding will be published in due course.