Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what amount of zero-emission bus funding awarded by her Department since 2021 has had to be returned to the Department for Transport; which local transport authorities have returned funding; what reasons were given in each case; and what assessment she has made of potential implications of those cases for assessments of the effectiveness of the design and oversight of the Government’s zero-emission bus funding programmes.

There have been four local transport authorities (LTAs) that have returned Zero Emission Buses Regional Areas (ZEBRA) funding due to a decrease in project scoping or because the project can no longer be delivered as approved. The LTAs that returned funding are as follows:

• Blackpool - returned money on 27 November 2023.
• Nottingham - returned money on 28 September 2023 due to a reduction in scope on the project.
• Warrington - returned money on 12 October 2023 due to a reduction in scope on the project.
• West Midlands - returned money in two separate repayments. This was due to the articulated buses switching from hydrogen fuel to electric (on 4 October 2023) and their intended double deck hydrogen buses being replaced by electric version (on 19 March 2025). The project is now delivering more zero emission buses for the reduced cost.

The Department considers these cases evidence that the ZEBRA change control and monitoring framework is functioning as intended. Requirements for returns are triggered where delivery no longer aligns with approved business cases, ensuring value for money and maintaining subsidy control compliance. In addition, ongoing evaluation of ZEBRA ensures lessons learned on deliverability are shared to improve future ZEB deployment across LTAs.

All returned funding has been reinvested into alternate ZEB projects, including increasing the scope of established ZEBRA projects where appropriate.