Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons coach operators were not included in the financial support package for bus operators.

We are encouraging coach operators to make use of the wide range of support measures the Chancellor announced. These amount to £330 billion of loans and guarantees for businesses, including the Covid-19 Jobs Retention Scheme to help firms retain members of staff, which has been extended until the end of October 2020. We are continuing to engage with the coach sector to understand what the ongoing risks and issues are, and how these could be addressed in light of the Coronavirus outbreak.