Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help support improvements to (a) local transport links and (b) networks across (i) Yorkshire and (ii) Northern Lincolnshire.

The Department is committed to improving local transport across the Yorkshire and Humber. The Chancellor announced in the Autumn Statement on 30 October a range of funding to support local transport, including funding that will provide for development of West Yorkshire Mass Transit and renewal of the Supertram in Sheffield. This includes an uplift to national City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) funding in 2025-26 by £200m, helping to improve the local transport in our largest city regions and drive growth and productivity across the country. This is in addition to the £570m and £830m already allocated to South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire for CRSTS1.

Additionally, the Chancellor announced over £650m of funding for local transport beyond City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements to ensure that transport connections improve in our towns, villages and rural areas as well as in our major cities. This includes funding to progress transport-related Levelling Up Fund projects through to 2025/26 including schemes such as Connecting West Leeds which will provide multi-modal enhancements to capacity, efficiency, safety and accessibility for all users of the A6120 Leeds Outer Ring Road.

Furthermore, the government has committed to delivering better bus services, and in the Budget confirmed investment of over £1 billion in 2025/26 to support and improve bus services and keep fares affordable.

This investment sits alongside the measures we are already undertaking to reform the bus system, including through the introduction of the Buses Bill later in this Parliamentary session, as we seek to ensure local leaders have the powers they need to deliver the better, more reliable services that passengers deserve.