Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide additional resources to support bus services in England so that some of the routes stopped since 2010 can be restored.

The bus market in England is deregulated. Any decision to cut bus routes lies with the commercial operator. In 2016/17 £2.21 billion was provided by the Government to support bus services in England. This support includes local authority payments for supported services, and £250 million of Bus Service Operators Grant payments with £43m of this being paid directly to local authorities to run services that are socially necessary. In 2017 the Government also introduced the Bus Services Act, providing a number of tools to help improve bus services for passengers, and are working with a number of interested local authorities to determine which of the powers provided in the Act are best able to support bus networks in their local areas.