Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of moving to a ten-year rail funding settlement to support long-term planning, value for money, and whole-life asset management.

We have considered the appropriate length of rail funding settlements as part of rail reform and the establishment of Great British Railways. Five-years of infrastructure funding, resulting in a five-year delivery plan, has been established as the appropriate balance between supporting long-term planning and reflecting the realities of a changing operational environment. Five-year funding will be informed by the Long-Term Rail Strategy to ensure there is long-term planning that supports the funding settlement.

Whilst we will continue to fund passenger services through the Spending Review process and timelines, legislation does retain future flexibility for passenger services budgets to be set over a five-year period.