Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the financial effect on business of decreases in rail punctuality.

The Department’s general approach to appraising the impact of delays and cancellations is published in the Department’s Transport Appraisal Guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transport-analysis-guidance-webtag). There is a particular approach to appraising punctuality impacts for business users that takes into account the impact that the delay has on the business as well as the individual who is delayed. Unit A1.3 of the guidance explains how impacts on business users are assessed.