Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department spent on consultants on electrification in financial years (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15 to date.

The Department commissioned technical and engineering advice from consultants in respect of electrification in 2013/14 and 2014/15.

£38,717.28 (including VAT) was spent in the financial year 2013/14.

£104,400.00 (including VAT) has been spent to date in 2014/15.

In addition, a research project was carried out in 2010 looking at electrification of Branch Lines with a value of £35,000.00