Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his letter to the Permanent Secretary of his Department on 20 March 2020 on urgent covid-19 expenditure, what estimate his Department’s Investment and Portfolio Committee has made of the (a) total cost and (b) cost by franchise which would result from (i) extending the Operator of Last Resort to all rail operators and (ii) placing all rail operators onto Emergency Measures Agreements to maintain rail services during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department’s Investment, Portfolio and Delivery Committee considered the options to maintain services, including extending the Operator of Last Resort. Ministers agreed with the committee’s recommendation to offer Emergency Measures Agreements to franchised train operators. Advice to Ministers is not normally published.