Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their justification for the further extension to the contract for Avanti West Coast, given its service record over the last six months.

Avanti West Coast (AWC) introduced a new timetable in December which amounted to an approximate 40 per cent increase in services. The first month did not see an improvement for passengers given the period of prolonged industrial action. Since then, AWC has demonstrated improvement in performance justifying an extension to October 2023, with cancellation rates falling to an average of 4.2 per cent in early March. AWC needs to do more to win back passengers with a reliable and dependable service.