Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which criteria his Department uses to assess the socio-economic effect of public procurement of rolling stock.

The Department considers the case for the procurement of rolling stock in line with the principles set out in the Government’s Green Book guidance on appraisal and evaluation, and the Business Case Guidance for Projects (available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book-appraisal-and-evaluation-in-central-governent).

The socio-economic effects of a project are assessed within the Economic Case, with the project’s impacts on individuals and the environment, for example. The Department for Transport’s Appraisal Guidance (TAG) (available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transport-analysis-guidance-webtag) sets out the guidance for producing an Economic Case.