Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to establish a long term, enhanced and devolved approach to funding bus services in the West Midlands.

On 04 April 2022, the Government allocated £87.9m of indicative Bus Service Improvement Plan funding to West Midlands Combined Authority to deliver London-style services, fares and infrastructure improvements to their bus network. West Midlands Combined Authority has an enhanced partnership in place and is currently conducting an assessment exploring whether to pursue bus franchising in future.

The West Midlands will also receive over £1bn in a five-year funding deal from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement to help deliver transformational transport programmes, which includes bus rapid transit corridors in this area.