Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of Network Rail's funding from 2024 to 2029 to prevent average asset deterioration of the railway network by maintaining the average asset (a) age and (b) percentage life used for key asset groups.

The settlement for Network Rail in its current funding period was provided as part of a detailed process run by the independent rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road. This process included consideration of forecast asset age and the affordability of this within funding constraints and a determination tied to this, therefore the funding settlement is intended to deliver a defined series of outputs rather than maintain asset condition.