Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding from the Bus Service Operators Grant has been awarded to community transport operators in England in each of the last five years.

The Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) is demand led, and so if eligible community transport operators in rural areas submit claims, these claims, if approved, are paid by the Department.

The department budgeted for £2.365m in 2024/25 and £3.8m in 2025/26 for community transport operators, within the BSOG budget. Because community transport operators do not necessarily operate within local authority boundaries, and BSOG is no longer issued at a local level, it is not possible to set out amounts of BSOG received by community transport operators in West Dorset in the last five years.

Dorset Council will be allocated £12.2 million under the LABG from 2026/27 to 2028/29. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services can be used in whichever way they wish to deliver better services for passengers, including expanding services and improving reliability. In previous years, the budget for community transport operators was not fully drawn down.