Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to support access to dentists in (a) Penrith and The Border constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry in England will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities where we know access can be particularly challenging.
Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.
There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Unit of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28, supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that patients affected by unexpected closures of NHS dental practices can still access dental care.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want to make sure that everyone needing a National Health Service dentist can access one. Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. This is especially important for those who live in rural or coastal communities where we know access can be particularly challenging.
Our plan includes a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. A Golden Hello of £20,000 will be offered per dentist, for a total of up to 240 dentists.
There are other measures in our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will help to improve access across all areas of the country. The new patient premium is designed to support dentists to see patients who may not have seen an NHS dentist for some time, and is offered in recognition of the additional time that may be needed for practices to assess, stabilise, and manage patients’ oral health needs. We will also raise the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate from £23 to £28 supporting practices across the country to deliver more NHS care.
Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles regularly, at least every 90 days, to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the (1) actual, and (2) projected, aid contributions to individual countries in South Asia, broken down by category of project.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We do not have a breakdown by project category of future spend. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.
We do have information on project category spend for previous calendar years which is published in the statistics on international development. This data is based on calendar year not financial year and covers the whole of HMG. Please see below data based on 2022, the last available calendar year.
2022 | 2022 Total | ||||||||
Row Labels | Afghanistan | Bangladesh | Bhutan | India | Maldives | Nepal | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | |
Administrative costs (non-sector allocable) | £273,832 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £150,105 | £0 | £423,938 |
Advanced technical and managerial training | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£54,390 | £0 | -£2,535 | £0 | £0 | -£56,924 |
Agricultural development | £1,292,411 | £0 | £0 | £47,020 | £0 | £0 | -£1,361,746 | £0 | -£22,316 |
Agricultural policy and administrative management | £0 | £2,809 | £0 | -£152 | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£253,566 | -£250,909 |
Agricultural research | £0 | £0 | £0 | £240,948 | £0 | £0 | £7,715 | £0 | £248,663 |
Agricultural services | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£2,274,286 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£2,274,286 |
Anti-corruption organisations and institutions | £2,518,313 | £576,402 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £175,805 | £144,143 | £0 | £3,414,663 |
Basic drinking water supply | £0 | £350,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £219,574 | £0 | £0 | £569,574 |
Basic drinking water supply and basic sanitation | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £639,497 | -£1,361,746 | £0 | -£722,250 |
Basic health care | £707,157 | £250,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £2,994,645 | £387,457 | £0 | £4,339,258 |
Basic life skills for adults | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £258,611 | £0 | £0 | £258,611 |
Basic nutrition | £0 | £712,997 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £14,770 | £0 | £0 | £727,767 |
Basic sanitation | £0 | £350,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £37,522 | -£2,723,493 | £0 | -£2,335,971 |
Biodiversity | £0 | £22,328 | £0 | £165,389 | £74,068 | £961,707 | £37,573 | £67,842 | £1,328,907 |
Business development services | £0 | £0 | £0 | £96,736 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £96,736 |
Business policy and administration | £0 | £0 | £0 | £565,783 | £0 | £0 | £437,513 | £0 | £1,003,296 |
Civilian peace-building, conflict prevention and resolution | £4,130,547 | £1,981,030 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £4,399 | £2,225,242 | £1,355,856 | £9,697,073 |
Communications policy and administrative management | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £127,531 | £0 | £44,422 | £0 | £171,953 |
COVID-19 control | £0 | £23,407 | £0 | £802,602 | £0 | £0 | £5,949 | £0 | £831,958 |
Culture | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £61,341 | £0 | £61,341 |
Culture and recreation | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£22,408 | £0 | £0 | £85,158 | £0 | £62,750 |
Decentralisation and support to subnational government | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £138,288 | £2,475,959 | £0 | £0 | £2,614,248 |
Democratic participation and civil society | £250,000 | £1,394,795 | £0 | £0 | £57,419 | £973,571 | £443,327 | £0 | £3,119,111 |
Domestic revenue mobilisation | £0 | -£728,536 | £0 | £193,016 | £0 | £117,203 | £1,059,571 | £0 | £641,254 |
Education and training in water supply and sanitation | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £12,737 | £0 | £0 | £12,737 |
Education facilities and training | £0 | £115,830 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,464,741 | £0 | £1,580,571 |
Education policy and administrative management | £0 | £577,278 | £0 | £97,983 | £0 | £0 | £3,077,249 | £0 | £3,752,510 |
Educational research | £0 | £361,000 | £0 | -£266,036 | £0 | £188,423 | £594,639 | £0 | £878,026 |
Elections | £0 | £12,027 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £900 | £0 | £12,927 |
Electric mobility infrastructures | £0 | £0 | £0 | £70,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £70,000 |
Electric power transmission and distribution (centralised grids) | £0 | £0 | £0 | £68,700 | £0 | £173,312 | £0 | £0 | £242,012 |
Emergency food assistance | £128,041,086 | £8,635,594 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £136,676,679 |
Employment creation | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£255,005 | £0 | £0 | -£255,005 |
Ending violence against women and girls | £21,461,697 | £1,009,135 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £728,846 | £3,068,578 | £0 | £26,268,255 |
Energy generation, renewable sources - multiple technologies | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£889,376 | £0 | £1,200,806 | £0 | £0 | £311,430 |
Energy policy and administrative management | £0 | £50,553 | £0 | £158,146 | £0 | £368,287 | £0 | £0 | £576,985 |
Energy research | £0 | £0 | £0 | £23,688 | £0 | £147,098 | £0 | £0 | £170,786 |
Energy sector policy, planning and administration | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,479,122 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,479,122 |
Environmental education/training | £0 | £0 | £48,668 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £48,668 |
Environmental policy and administrative management | £635,676 | £6,904,699 | £0 | £24,064,426 | £0 | £4,380,855 | £5,812,804 | £0 | £41,798,459 |
Environmental research | £0 | £120,723 | £0 | £3,082,518 | £0 | £863,732 | £0 | £0 | £4,066,974 |
Facilitation of orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility | £0 | £102,902 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £234,377 | £0 | £0 | £337,279 |
Family planning | £265,080 | £565,862 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £102,500 | £3,660,244 | £0 | £4,593,686 |
Financial policy and administrative management | £0 | £0 | £0 | £507,690 | £0 | £0 | £301,387 | £0 | £809,077 |
Formal sector financial intermediaries | £0 | £0 | £0 | £49,665 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £49,665 |
Health education | £338,898 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £219,770 | £0 | £0 | £558,668 |
Health personnel development | £0 | £273,503 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £273,503 |
Health policy and administrative management | £0 | £1,760,392 | £0 | £3,122,660 | £0 | £2,298,530 | £343,452 | £0 | £7,525,034 |
Higher education | £911,301 | £649,203 | £172,288 | £2,693,479 | £214,955 | £434,329 | £1,992,063 | £395,690 | £7,463,308 |
Human rights | £0 | £1,775,384 | £0 | £0 | £183,646 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,959,030 |
Immediate post-emergency reconstruction and rehabilitation | £4,081,072 | £2,602,056 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,382,031 | £12 | £0 | £8,065,171 |
Industrial development | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £317,516 | £0 | £0 | £317,516 |
Industrial policy and administrative management | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,102,394 | £0 | £0 | £1,102,394 |
Infectious disease control | £0 | £344,911 | £0 | £106,589 | £0 | £721,591 | £3,657 | £0 | £1,176,748 |
Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries | £1,133,493 | £0 | £0 | £65,012 | £0 | £129,305 | £0 | £0 | £1,327,810 |
Information and communication technology (ICT) | £0 | £277,978 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £277,978 |
Legal and judicial development | £0 | £562,328 | £0 | £0 | £207,433 | £219,762 | £1,059,545 | £23,435 | £2,072,502 |
Legislatures and political parties | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £86,128 | £28,936 | £0 | £0 | £115,064 |
Livestock | £1,133,493 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,133,493 |
Low-cost housing | £0 | £0 | £0 | £7,590 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £7,590 |
Material relief assistance and services | £133,863,525 | £7,210,063 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £367,000 | £13,753,266 | £1,840,000 | £157,033,854 |
Media and free flow of information | £0 | £27,380 | £0 | £0 | £85,021 | £201,771 | £0 | £0 | £314,172 |
Medical research | £0 | £349,577 | £0 | £3,227,794 | £0 | £153,028 | £1,625,422 | £0 | £5,355,821 |
Medical services | £0 | £0 | £0 | £19,694 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £19,694 |
Monetary institutions | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£4,122,509 | £0 | £367,746 | £0 | £0 | -£3,754,763 |
Multi-hazard response preparedness | £0 | £3,119,353 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £2,296,059 | -£346,074 | £0 | £5,069,339 |
Multisector aid | £10,000,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £10,000,000 |
Multisector education/training | £179,070 | £2,964,257 | £0 | £10,757,244 | £0 | £1,082,590 | £5,089,541 | £1,148,813 | £21,221,516 |
Participation in international peacekeeping operations | -£26,486,939 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£26,486,939 |
Personnel development for population and reproductive health | £0 | £628,071 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £628,071 |
Population policy and administrative management | £0 | £63,206 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £49,325 | £159,552 | £0 | £272,083 |
Primary education | £677,795 | £1,749,487 | £0 | £96,754 | £0 | £0 | £1,368,615 | £0 | £3,892,652 |
Privatisation | £4,424 | £0 | £0 | £62,081 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £66,505 |
Public finance management (PFM) | £0 | -£4,128,373 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £820,701 | £1,854,023 | £0 | -£1,453,650 |
Public sector policy and administrative management | £34,999 | £576,042 | £0 | £859,780 | £0 | £789,046 | £91,270 | £0 | £2,351,137 |
Relief co-ordination and support services | £59,853,084 | £2,072,828 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £6,022,939 | £0 | £67,948,851 |
Removal of land mines and explosive remnants of war | £5,000,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £5,000,000 |
Reproductive health care | £1,369,857 | £1,435,386 | £0 | £52,362 | £0 | £490,359 | £1,851,776 | £0 | £5,199,740 |
Research/scientific institutions | £378,625 | £1,287,873 | -£72,577 | £740,328 | £0 | £1,049,080 | £908,916 | £2,760 | £4,295,005 |
Road transport | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£1,137,143 | £0 | £2,256,726 | £1,800 | £0 | £1,121,383 |
Rural development | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £202,165 | £0 | £0 | £202,165 |
Security system management and reform | £0 | £43,536 | £0 | £0 | £458,799 | £69,946 | £0 | £0 | £572,281 |
Site preservation | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) development | £5,530 | £0 | £0 | £1,245,753 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £1,251,283 |
Social Protection | £0 | £1,351,346 | £0 | £39,879 | £0 | -£345,949 | £226,615 | £0 | £1,271,891 |
Solar energy for centralised grids | £0 | £0 | £0 | £117,792 | £0 | £648,694 | £0 | £0 | £766,486 |
Statistical capacity building | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £353,100 | £0 | £0 | £353,100 |
Teacher training | £0 | £508,061 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £663,698 | £0 | £1,171,759 |
Trade facilitation | £5,530 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £133,722 | £0 | £139,252 |
Trade policy and administrative management | £6,637 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £203,275 | £0 | £209,912 |
Transport policy and administrative management | £0 | £0 | £0 | £69,054 | £0 | £128,892 | £1,200 | £0 | £199,146 |
Tuberculosis control | £0 | £29,991 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £29,991 |
Upper Secondary Education (modified and includes data from 11322) | £338,898 | £897,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £985,293 | £0 | £2,221,190 |
Urban development | £0 | £0 | £0 | £542,146 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £542,146 |
Urban development and management | £0 | £1,050,000 | £0 | £78,000 | £0 | £695,269 | £781,523 | £0 | £2,604,792 |
Vocational training | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £646,527 | £0 | £0 | £646,527 |
Waste management/disposal | £0 | £0 | £0 | £14,424 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £14,424 |
Water resources conservation (including data collection) | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £219,574 | £0 | £0 | £219,574 |
Water sector policy and administrative management | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £31,842 | £0 | £0 | £31,842 |
Water supply - large systems | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £737,655 | £0 | £0 | £737,655 |
Water supply and sanitation - large systems | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£1,137,143 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£1,137,143 |
Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions | £0 | £1,800,998 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £59,406 | £1,444,631 | £0 | £3,305,036 |
Grand Total | £352,405,092 | £54,672,670 | £148,379 | £45,728,404 | £1,633,288 | £37,241,408 | £57,842,803 | £4,580,830 | £554,252,874 |
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the availability of NHS dentistry.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
18.1 million adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the 24 months up to 30 June 2023, an increase of 1.7 million, or 10%, when compared to the previous year. 6.4 million children were seen by an NHS dentist in the 12 months up to 30 June 2023, an increase of 800,000, or 14%, when compared to the previous year. Our plan to recover and reform NHS Dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund around 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment.
Our plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, including the introduction of a New Patient Payment Premium of up to £50 for each new patient. This is on top of the funding dental practices already receive for delivering that care. We will further incentivise dentists to do more NHS work by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28. As an additional part of the plan, we will launch a new Golden Hello scheme for dentists who want to move to those areas which persistently struggle to attract dentists into NHS work. We will also deploy dental vans offering appointments to patients in targeted rural and coastal communities who have the most limited access to dentistry, starting later this year.
NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care. From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for her policies of trends in the level of debt acquired by water companies.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services.
Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed.
Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring and improving levels of reporting transparency. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for her policies of trends in the level of debt acquired by water companies.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services.
Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed.
Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken further steps to strengthen the financial resilience of companies. This includes increasing its financial monitoring and improving levels of reporting transparency. As part of this work, Ofwat produces an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects the Food Data Transparency Partnership Eco Working Group to produce its report detailing proposals to measure and communicate carbon emissions in the food system.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP) was established in early 2023, as a means to work jointly across Defra, the Food Standards Agency, the Department of Health and Social Care, industry, academia and civil society. The FDTP aims to drive positive change in the food system through better and more transparent food data. On environmental sustainability, the FDTP has focused on the approach needed to deliver consistent, accurate and accessible data on quantifying and communicating the environmental impact of food across the agri-food system. This will support our agri-food industry to remain internationally competitive in the context of global growing demand for data on environmental impacts associated with products or services sold.
The FDTP Eco Working Group continues to develop the detail of proposals to measure and communicate greenhouse gas emissions in the food system. The group has identified several interim priorities for the short and medium term. These will be communicated to industry as part of the FDTP's continued programme of engagement.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) maintain and (b) enhance rural bus services in (i) Dewsbury constituency and (ii) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis. Where commercial service provision is insufficient to meet the needs of local communities, local authorities can subsidise bus services where this represents value for money. This ensures that service provision is aligned with local needs.
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected, including in rural areas, and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020.
The over £4.5 billion includes:
o £2bn pandemic funding between March 2020 and June 2023, followed by £300m in further service support until April 2025 (of which £160m is BSIP+ (not included in the £2bn BSIP funding below) and £140m is BSOG+ funding);
o £2bn Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, including £1bn for LTAs in the North and the Midlands recently reallocated from HS2 (of which we have already announced allocations for the first £150m in 2024/25 and allocations for 25/26 onwards will be published in due course);
o Nearly £600m of funding for the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024.
From the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been allocated over £90 million so far. The Department’s guidance to local authorities on developing their BSIPs explains that these must cover their full area and all local bus services within it. This funding should, therefore, benefit services in Dewsbury.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural bus routes. West Yorkshire Combined Authority receives over £2 million of this funding every year.
The Government is also providing £20 million through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to (a) maintain and (b) improve rural bus services in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis. Where commercial service provision is insufficient to meet the needs of local communities, local authorities can subsidise bus services where this represents value for money. This ensures that service provision is aligned with local needs.
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected, including in rural areas, and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020.
The over £4.5 billion includes:
o £2bn pandemic funding between March 2020 and June 2023, followed by £300m in further service support until April 2025 (of which £160m is BSIP+ (not included in the £2bn BSIP funding below) and £140m is BSOG+ funding);
o £2bn Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, including £1bn for LTAs in the North and the Midlands recently reallocated from HS2 (of which we have already announced allocations for the first £150m in 2024/25 and allocations for 25/26 onwards will be published in due course);
o Nearly £600m of funding for the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024.
From the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated over £8.5 million so far. The Department’s guidance to local authorities on developing their BSIPs explains that these must cover their full area and all local bus services within it. This funding should, therefore, benefit services in South Holland and the Deepings.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural bus routes. Lincolnshire County Council receives £535,302 of this funding every year.
The Government is also providing £20 million through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to protect rural bus services in Leicestershire; and what discussions he has had with Arriva East Midlands about the necessity of such bus services.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis. Where commercial service provision is insufficient to meet the needs of local communities, local authorities can subsidise bus services where this represents value for money. This ensures that service provision is aligned with local needs. The Department for Transport regularly engages with bus operators and local authorities throughout England on the provision of local bus services, including those in rural areas.
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected, including in rural areas, and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020.
The over £4.5 billion includes:
o £2bn pandemic funding between March 2020 and June 2023, followed by £300m in further service support until April 2025 (of which £160m is BSIP+ (not included in the £2bn BSIP funding below) and £140m is BSOG+ funding);
o £2bn Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, including £1bn for LTAs in the North and the Midlands recently reallocated from HS2 (of which we have already announced allocations for the first £150m in 2024/25 and allocations for 25/26 onwards will be published in due course);
o Nearly £600m of funding for the £2 fare cap until the end of 2024.
From the Bus Service Improvement Plan funding, Leicestershire County Council has been allocated over £7.5 million so far.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural bus routes. Leicestershire County Council receives £535,302 of this funding every year.
The Government is also providing £20 million through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings. £1.3 million of this funding has been provided to Leicestershire County Council to trial their ‘FoxConnect’ service, covering rural areas between Hinckley and Leicester.