Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department makes available discretionary funding for the extension of operational hours of bus services in isolated and deprived communities.

Local authorities have the power to subsidise bus services in isolated and deprived communities. This can include subsiding a service so that its hours of operation are extended. The majority of public funding for local bus services is provided via block grant to local authorities in England from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Department for Transport provides £250 million annually through the Bus Service Operators Grant to support bus services and supports local authority spending of £1 billion a year for free bus travel for older and disabled people.