Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the condition on the additional funding to TfL that Government officials will attend TfL board meetings, whether Government officials will attend the board meetings of each train operator with a franchise agreement with his Department and report back on the use of additional resources provided to them in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

The Secretary of State has not appointed an external advisor to train operator boards and has no immediate plans to do so. The Emergency Measures Agreements (EMAs) give the Department enhanced controls over financial decisions made by train operators. This includes a formal process of monthly budget reviews, allowing additional financial scrutiny of operators, with the ability for the Department to deem expenditure disallowable, in which case the train operator would have to bear the costs.

The funding and financing package for TfL amounts to £1.6 billion.