Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment criteria his Department used when it decided to extend the Avanti West Coast contract for a further six months.

The Department objectively assessed whether the extension was appropriate against the relevant criteria set out in the Secretary of State’s public facing section 26 policy statement. In doing so the Department took into account Avanti West Coast's delivery against its agreed recovery plans in place with both the Department and the Office of Rail and Road, and the improvements in operational performance over recent months. Weekday services have risen from 180 to 264 trains per day, the highest level in over two years. Cancellation rates have fallen from around 25% to 4.2%, the lowest level in 12 months. In addition, over 100 additional drivers have been recruited to reduce reliance on union-controlled overtime working.