Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 3.2.3 of the Levelling Up White Paper on ensuring local public transport connectivity across the country is brought significantly closer to the standards of London, if he will (a) quantify the term significantly and (b) clarify how that will impact bus services.

The Government is clear that ensuring better bus services are delivered across England will be one of our major acts of levelling-up. In March 2020, The Government published England’s long-term National Bus Strategy. The Strategy will make buses more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, better co-ordinated and cheaper. At the Budget we announced £1.2 billion of new dedicated funding for bus transformation deals to deliver London-style services, fares and infrastructure improvements in England, as part of a £3 billion investment over this Parliament to level up bus services in England.