Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Hill Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mike Hill (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

What recent representations he has received on the creation of additional integrated public transport systems throughout England.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Grant Shapps)]

The Department receives requests through many different routes to fund schemes that consider integrated transport, intra-city transport and all the other types of integration.

[Mike Hill]

As covid-19 breathes down the neck of my constituency and much of the north-east goes into local lockdown, and with local access to transport now needed more than ever, can the Secretary of State tell the House why many residents have seen their bus routes cut routinely over the last 10 years?

[Grant Shapps]

Good news for the hon. Member: this Government have committed to putting a record amount into bus investment. As he will know, 4,000 shiny new zero-carbon buses are part of that plan, as is a massive investment—a bus, cycling and walking package of £5 billion—in ensuring that bus routes can be expanded. We are certainly on the side of him and his constituents when it comes to expanding those bus services, notwithstanding the significant challenges of covid.