Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent on improving railways in the (a) Sheffield, (b) Leeds and (c) Manchester city regions in each of the last 30 years; and how much his Department plans to spend on railways in each region over the next 10 years.

Figures on public sector expenditure at national and regional levels are part of the Government’s Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) statistics. These provide statistical allocations of public spending according to where the benefits of that spend are accrued. Unfortunately, spend at city specific level is not available.

The CRA statistics include spend on transport by all public sector organisations including the Department for Transport, Local Authorities, Public Corporations (in the case of transport, this is mainly spend by London Underground) and other government departments including devolved administrations.

Table 1: Public expenditure on the railway in the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, by all public sector bodies (£ million)

These expenditure values are in nominal terms and have not been adjusted for inflation. In 2014, Network Rail was classified as a Central Government Body and thus spending on the railways before and after Network Rail’s reclassification are not comparable.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/country-and-regional-analysis-2020

The Spending Review confirmed that the Government will continue to support the railway, investing in ambitious improvements to modernise our railway, committing over £40bn. This includes over £2 billion of funding confirmed in 2021-22 for rail services, building on the estimated £12.8 billion of support for transport services that the government has already committed to provide in 2020-21.

We continue to deliver ambitious enhancements to the rail network, investing in key priorities including the Transpennine Route Upgrade, restoring lines and stations closed during the Beeching cuts and in HS2, with an unrelenting focus on levelling up our country and ensuring all communities have the connections they need to support growth and prosperity.