Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that Avanti will reduce the number of services they will run between North Wales and London for a period covering the whole school summer holidays, what assessment they have made of Avanti's compliance with the terms of their contract during that time; and what assessment they have made of the impact of this reduction in service on the tourism industry in the areas served by this route.

Department for Transport officials and Ministers regularly meet Avanti West Coast (AWC) senior management to hold them to account for matters within their control. Since AWC drivers largely ceased volunteering for rest day working in July 2022 the company has made significant progress and reduced Avanti-caused cancellations to 1.4 per cent at the end of May, while running more trains than before July 2022. AWC informed the Department in advance that it anticipated needing to temporarily remove a small number of services in order to ensure reliability for passengers. Reducing services to a level operable without rest day working will reduce the incidence of unpredictable short notice cancellations which are especially disruptive to passengers.

The Government and AWC have taken care to minimise the impact on passengers and to protect the important tourist traffic to North Wales.