Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the benefit cost ratio is in the Cumbria County Council submission for the Bothel road scheme.

I can confirm that the Department has assessed that the Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) for the A595 Strategic Improvements (Bothel) scheme is 0.91, meaning the scheme represents poor value for money. This means it would return less than £1 of benefits for every £1 of taxpayers money invested.