Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the Government's policy is on bus service provision in rural areas.

The Government is very conscious of the importance of bus services to rural communities, which provide them with vital links to local services. Decisions on which individual bus services in rural areas they wish to subsidise are of course a matter for individual English local authorities.

That said, we were able to protect Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) funding as part of the Spending Review last year. Government pays out approximately £250 million a year to support bus services in England outside London through BSOG, which is especially important in helping to protect services in rural areas.

We are also currently piloting the Total Transport initiative, which is exploring how local authorities and other agencies can work together to commission transport services more effectively in rural and isolated areas.

Support for bus services in Wales would be a matter for the Welsh Assembly Government.