Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to protect rural bus services in Leicestershire; and what discussions he has had with Arriva East Midlands about the necessity of such bus services.

In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis. Where commercial service provision is insufficient to meet the needs of local communities, local authorities can subsidise bus services where this represents value for money. This ensures that service provision is aligned with local needs. The Department for Transport regularly engages with bus operators and local authorities throughout England on the provision of local bus services, including those in rural areas.

The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected, including in rural areas, and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020.

The over £4.5 billion includes:

o £2bn pandemic funding between March 2020 and June 2023, followed by £300m in further service support until April 2025 (of which £160m is BSIP+ (not included in the £2bn BSIP funding below) and £140m is BSOG+ funding);

o £2bn Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, including £1bn for LTAs in the North and the Midlands recently reallocated from HS2 (of which we have already announced allocations for the first £150m in 2024/25 and allocations for 25/26 onwards will be published in due course);

o Nearly £600m of funding for the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024.

From the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, Leicestershire County Council has been allocated over £7.5 million so far.

The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural bus routes. Leicestershire County Council receives £535,302 of this funding every year.

The Government is also providing £20 million through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings. £1.3 million of this funding has been provided to Leicestershire County Council to trial their ‘FoxConnect’ service, covering rural areas between Hinckley and Leicester.