Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of service reliability on annual passenger footfall at Narborough Station since 2019.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Unreliable rail services disrupt passengers’ journeys and undermine passenger confidence. This is why we are taking steps to improve train service performance across the country to better deliver for passengers. Passenger numbers across all CrossCountry routes are similar to those that were seen in 2019. Office of Rail and Road figures show growth in demand at Narborough station, with an estimated 240,000 entries and exits in the 2023-24 financial year. This is an increase of 32,000 on the year before.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) reliability and (b) punctuality of CrossCountry services operating between Birmingham, Leicester and Stansted Airport.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
CrossCountry train services were not reliable enough in 2024 and the operator was subject to a Remedial Plan from August 2024 to March 2025. Since January 2025, CrossCountry train service performance has generally improved, although issues remain on Sundays. The Rail Minister has met CrossCountry Directors who are well aware that there is more for them to do. A new senior management team at CrossCountry is taking steps to address underlying issues within the business. We expect to see improvements for passengers, and will continue to hold the operator to account for delivery of the contractual performance benchmarks.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has received proposals on improving the (a) reliability, (b) capacity and (c) frequency of services serving Narborough station from CrossCountry.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We expect operators to plan services balancing the need to meet expected passenger demand, improve train service performance, be affordable and provide value for money for taxpayers. Office of Rail and Road station statistics show that service reliability at Narborough has generally improved in the eight weeks to 13 September 2025. Officials monitor CrossCountry performance closely and will continue to hold them to account for delivery of the contractual performance benchmarks.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with CrossCountry on increasing capacity on (a) peak services between Leicester and Narborough and (b) the 17:18 weekday service from Leicester to Birmingham.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In December 2024, CrossCountry removed First Class accommodation from the trains used on the Birmingham to Stansted Airport route, increasing the number of seats available to all ticket holders. All operators are expected to plan capacity on individual services to best match the expected level of demand, whilst making efficient use of the train fleet and train crew resources available to them. Officials are working with CrossCountry to develop a business case to further expand their Inter-City train fleet.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of technical support offered by technology companies to people who report cyber crime incidents affecting their products.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (2022) places a legal obligation on the manufacturers of internet-connected devices to offer a vulnerability reporting process. This means anyone - including users, security researchers and cyber crime victims - must have a clear, secure way to report vulnerabilities to device manufacturers. The Act also places a legal obligation on device manufacturers to support their products with software and security updates for a defined period.
Technical support for cyber crime victims is not regulated under the Act. Victims should report cyber crimes to the police via the Action Fraud website or phone line.