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 comparative assessment he has made of the value for money of the plans for new freight network capacity made in (a) December 2018 and (b) June 2019.

The framework that my Department is setting up on behalf of wider Government will provide a long-term approach to securing freight capacity when needed. This approach, which is different from that adopted in December 2018, will provide additional flexibility and resilience.

At this stage in the procurement process the Government is not committed to buying or reserving any freight capacity. The costs associated with any capacity secured through the framework will be determined later in the process, once the framework is in place and Government has ‘called-off’ the capacity it requires.