Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2019 to Question 273804 on Freight, what assessment he has made of the value for money of the freight network capacity plans that he announced in December 2018.

Ahead of letting the freight contracts in December 2018, the Department undertook all relevant value for money assessments and clearances, in line with good practice.

As part of the procurement process, price benchmarking was undertaken to ensure contracted prices for Government were commensurate with market rates.