Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support local authorities to maintain bus services.

The Government has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020. This includes £2 billion in emergency and recovery funding to maintain services during the pandemic; over £1 billion allocated in 2022 to help local transport authorities deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans; a further £1 billion redirected from HS2 to improve bus services in the North and the Midlands as part of Network North; £300 million in ongoing funding to support and improve services until April 2025; and nearly £600 million to cap single bus fares at £2 from 1 January 2023 until the end of 2024.

From the further £1 billion redirected from HS2, City of York council has been allocated £1.153m as a first instalment, for 2024/25.

The Department also makes around £260 million available every year to bus operators and local authorities through the Bus Service Operators Grant to help run services that might otherwise be unprofitable and could lead to cancellation. £42 million of this funding goes to local authorities.