Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help ensure that there is adequate competition between private bus companies in the North East.

The North-East Combined Authority and bus operators are delivering improvements to local bus services through a statutory Enhanced Partnership (EP) and have followed EP guidance issued by the Department for Transport to ensure its compliance with competition law. A competition test and formal consultation with the Competition and Markets Authority have been carried out as part of the EP process. The North-East Combined Authority is responsible for the content of their Enhanced Partnership.