Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of train services between Manchester and London in 2025; and how much has been spent on delay repay compensation to customers on those services in 2025.

Avanti West Coast is beginning to see consistent and steady performance improvements on the network. However, there is still more to do with punctuality behind the industry average and poor Network Rail infrastructure reliability continuing to be a leading cause of disruption, including on the Manchester route. In 2025, service levels to Manchester increased with two additional weekday services added to the timetable from September.

The Government produces annual figures relating to the amount of compensation that is paid out by train operating companies. The data for 2024/25 has been collected and will be published shortly. The data for 2025/26 will be collected at the end of the financial year and subsequently published.