Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025 to Question 86751 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, whether any expenditure incurred on feasibility, development or preparatory work for Restoring Your Railway schemes that did not proceed following the programme’s cancellation has been subject to impairment or write-down in the Department’s accounts.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In line with our previous answers, there has been no write-down or impairment in the Department’s accounts from the decision to cancel the Restoring Your Railway programme.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2025 to Question 90394 on the Restoring Your Railways Fund, if she will publish the equality impact assessment completed by her Department of the decision to close the Restoring Your Railways programme.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department had due regard for the Public Sector Equalities Duty, and completed an Equalities Impact Assessment related to the closure of the Restoring Your Railway programme. The Department does not habitually publish such advice and legal compliance documents in this manner and it would not be appropriate to do so in this case.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 27 October 2025, to Question 82997, on Restoring Your Railway Fund, how much central government money was written off as a consequence of the decision to cancel the fund.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Chancellor’s 29 July 2024 announcement confirmed that the Restoring Your Railway programme would be brought to a close, as one of the steps she was taking to address the pressures on the public finances created by unfunded policy announcements made by the previous government. No funding was "written off" as part of this process.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 82997 on Restoring Your Railway Fund, whether any (a) equality impact assessment and (b) screening was produced by any central government body in relation to the decision to cancel the fund.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The decision to close the Restoring your Railways programme was taken by the Chancellor as a cost saving measure in July 2024. The impact of this decision was carefully considered by HM Treasury and an equality impact assessment on the closure of the programme was completed by the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2025 to Question 86751 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, what the value was of the remaining funding anticipated for that programme prior to its reallocation under the Spending Review process.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
At the time of the cancellation, the schemes announced by the previous government as part of the programme had forecasts totalling c.£600m over the period to 2029/30. The chancellor stated that the decision to close the RYR scheme saved £85m of funding for the programme in 2025/26, ahead of the Spending Review, the remaining forecast was unfunded.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 82997 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, how much and what proportion of previously allocated funding has been (a) spent, (b) returned to the Treasury and (c) written off following the programme’s cancellation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Chancellor’s 29 July 2024 announcement confirmed that the Restoring Your Railway programme would be brought to a close, as one of the steps she was taking to address the pressures on the public finances created by unfunded policy announcements made by the previous government. At that time, £349.18m had been spent. The remaining funding anticipated for the Restoring Your Railways fund was reallocated to support other priorities within rail enhancements and across government as part of the Spending Review process. This included concluding work on the delivery of the Northumberland Line, and Dartmoor Line projects, previously part of the RYR fund. The Secretary of State has confirmed funding will be provided for Metrowest (Portishead), Haxby station, Wellington station and Cullompton station projects that had also previously been identified through RYR. No funding was "written off" as part of this process.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 82997 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, whether the audit was independently reviewed by (a) the Office for Budget Responsibility and (b) another external body.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In July 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer instructed HM Treasury officials to undertake an audit of public spending. The audit’s findings showed a forecast overspend on departmental spending of £21.9 billion above the totals that had been set at Spring Budget 2024.
Taking immediate action to respond to the spending pressure, the government cancelled unfunded policy announcements made by the previous government, including the Restoring Your Railway programme.
The full Spending Audit summary can be found on GOV.UK.
The OBR conducted a review into the Spring Budget 2024 forecast which is available on their website, setting out that if the OBR had been aware of the scale of pressures at the time, they would have reached a “materially different judgement about...spending in 2024-2025”
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 71255 on the Restoring Your Railway Fund, if she will publish all the assessments undertaken by her Department relating to the decision to cancel the Restoring Your Railway fund.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In her first week on the 8th of July 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer instructed HM Treasury officials to undertake an audit of public spending and public finances left by the last government. The audit’s findings showed a devastating forecast overspend on departmental spending of £21.9 billion above the resource departmental expenditure limit (RDEL) totals that had been set at Spring Budget 2024.
Taking immediate action to respond to the spending pressure on the UK’s public finances left by the last government, the government cancelled the Restoring Your Railway programme as a vital cost-saving measure of £85 million.
HM Treasury always carefully considers the impact of its decisions, but had to make difficult decisions in light of the black hole left by the last government.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 71255 on Restoring your railway fund, if she will publish a copy of the (a) environmental principles assessment and (b) public sector equality duty assessment relating to the cancellation of the Restoring Your Railway fund.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The decision to close the Restoring Your Railway fund was taken in the context of a wider review of Public Spending by the Chancellor, where she confirmed the steps the Government was taking to address the pressures on the public finances by cancelling unfunded policy announcements made by the previous government. No environmental principles assessment or public sector equality duty assessment was made by my Department on the specific element of the decision to close the Restoring Your Railway fund.
My Department has due regard for Public Sector Equality Duty and Environmental Principles as decisions are taken about progressing projects and these will also have been considered by HM Treasury in the review of Public Spending, as my Right Honourable Friend’s previous response indicated.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the document entitled Fixing the foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25, published on 29 July 2024, if she will publish the (a) equality impact assessment, (b) strategic environmental assessment and (b) environmental principles assessment produced for the Ministerial decision to cancel the Restoring Your Railway fund.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
On 8 July 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer instructed HM Treasury officials to undertake a audit of public spending. The audit’s findings showed a forecast overspend on departmental spending of £21.9 billion above the resource departmental expenditure limit (RDEL) totals that had been set at Spring Budget 2024.
Taking immediate action to respond to the spending pressure, the government cancelled the Restoring Your Railway programme as a cost-saving measure of £85 million.
HM Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics in line with both our legal obligations and with our commitment to promoting fairness.
HM Treasury also carefully considers the environmental impacts of decisions in line with the environmental principles policy statement duty and the recognition of long-term environmental targets to tackle climate change.