Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing emergency bus funding directly to local transport authorities as opposed to bus operators.

To ensure consistency with Bus Services Operators Grant (BSOG), the majority of Covid-19 Bus Service Support Grant (CBSSG) funding is paid directly to operators. Local Transport Authorities do also receive some CBSSG funding for tendered services. However, we do not believe that now is the right time to change our funding models.

We are also keen to avoid a situation where different funding models are operating in different parts of the country, which would cause additional challenges for cross-border services or operators whose businesses span multiple urban areas.