Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for any reduction in the number and frequency of rural bus services since 2015.

Bus passenger journeys declined in rural areas in England by 9.3% from 286 million journeys in 2014/15 to 259 million journeys in 2017/18.

The Government recognises the importance of public transport on the sustainability and independence of rural communities, and provides £43 million of the Bus Service Operators Grant each year directly to local authorities so that they can subsidise bus services. In addition, as part of the 2018-19 local government finance settlement, the Government increased the Rural Services Delivery Grant to £81 million. The 2019-20 settlement increased the Grant to the same level.