Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Free travel and new routes: government’s bus revolution hits another gear, published on 13 April 2026, whether she plans to help ensure that equivalent funding for bus services will be made available to Greater Essex once its mayoral elections take place in 2028.

The Government is providing a £3 million Bus Franchising Support Fund in 2026/27 for Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) in the process of developing and implementing bus franchising schemes, which is designed to aid transition. This fund is only available for those MSAs who have already started the journey to franchising services.

In addition, the Government is also providing an ongoing package of support to local authorities that are actively seeking to transition to a franchised network. This includes funding for authorities wishing to pursue franchising; which will fund a pre-feasibility study or franchising assessment. Applications for this fund have now closed for 2026/27, however it will open again for 2027/28 and 2028/29. The authorities who will make up Greater Essex Combined Authority may wish a to apply this fund in future years.