Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of (a) increases in the steel price and (b) other commodity price fluctuations on Network Rail’s infrastructure investment programme during Control Period 6 from 2019 to 2024.

Our latest assessments do not currently predict an impact on Network Rail’s budget for Control Period 6. Network Rail are pro-actively monitoring commodity prices including steel following the recent volatility. They have long term contractual mechanisms in place to ensure that the prices they pay are based on independently compiled indices which protect them from short term spikes in market prices.