Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the estimated mobilisation and due diligence costs of rail franchise transfers include the (a) renegotiation and (b) absorption of Police Service Agreements; and whether the ongoing costs of public sector companies absorbing the rail industry BTP funding previously paid by private Train Operating Companies will require additional financial assistance from her Department.

As train operating companies move into public ownership they will continue to enter into Police Service Agreements (PSAs) with the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA), and we do not expect any change to the existing funding arrangements. The BTPA will continue to allocate policing costs to operators using its cost allocation model.

Since the start of the COVID pandemic, the costs of operating franchised passenger services have been borne by taxpayers, not by private train operators. As a result, public ownership does not in itself create a new funding pressure in relation to British Transport Police costs, and no additional financial assistance is expected beyond costs determined through the Authority’s usual annual allocation process.