Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the proposals on public transport within the report entitled Mission Zero: Independent Review of Net Zero, published on 26 September 2022.

The Department acknowledged the role that helping passengers to choose public transport will have in the decarbonisation of the sector in March 2023’s Powering Up Britain: Net Zero Growth Plan and thanks Chris Skidmore MP for his detailed review of reducing transport emissions in Mission Zero: Independent Review of Net Zero.

The Department outlined a model for improving and increasing demand for public transport in the National Bus Strategy for England and Plan for Rail and are delivering on its ambitions, including investing £360 million in fares, ticketing and retailing for rail. The Department remains committed to supporting the introduction of 4,000 zero emission buses and a zero-emission bus fleet, with approximately 3,400 zero emission buses funded to date across the UK.

The Government has provided over £2 billion in emergency and recovery funding since March 2020 to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and protect vital bus routes and is also investing over £1 billion to support improvements to bus services through local Bus Service Improvement Plans.