Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on safety for passengers travelling from (a) Scotland to England and (b) England to Scotland of the Scottish Government's plans to integrate the British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland.

We are working closely with the Scottish Government, the two police forces and police authorities, through a Joint Programme Board, to ensure that effective arrangements are in place for cross-border railway policing once responsibilities have been transferred, so that we continue to have a railway policing service which protects the safety of passengers.