Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his department will consider the potential merits of flexible funding for the Bus Service Improvement Plan for Nottinghamshire County Council.

Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) was one of the successful authorities, under the leadership of Cllr Ben Bradley MP, which bid for and was awarded up to £18,713,800 for delivery of their Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which I know you have welcomed as part of very significant investment in Ashfield and across Nottinghamshire since 2019 to support better jobs and transport to access them.

In line with the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Local Transport Authority on 10 November 2022, any changes to the agreed delivery plan should be submitted to the Department via a Project Adjustment Request. The Department is actively engaged with NCC to ensure that the BSIP scheme delivers for local people in Ashfield and across Nottinghamshire and I have asked Departmental officials to be flexible in their approach within the boundaries of the Section 31 grant when tweaking the scheme to developing local priorities.