Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has received all of the bids for the West Coast Partnership franchise competition; how many of those bids his Department has (a) evaluated and (b) scored; and whether he as invited the company with the the highest scoring bid from that process to discuss potential contractual terms.

The Department does not comment on live competitions. Please note that all bids received for any franchise competition are evaluated against the requirements and instructions set out in the relevant procurement documentation.