Question to the Department for Transport:

To the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the (a) scale and (b) potential impact of the shortage in bus drivers.

My Department is working closely with the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) and the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) to gather information to gain an understanding of, and assess, the current staffing levels and recruitment pipeline in the bus sector. This will inform the Department about the extent of the shortages across the country.

The Government is committed to maintaining high service levels for bus users to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and has announced £226.5 million in Bus Recovery Funding to support this.