Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the reduction in the rail freight grant on the volume of freight that will be carried by (a) rail and (b) road.

Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) awards made so far will help to remove about 140,000 fewer lorry journeys from road and onto rail in 2017/18 than the current year end forecast for 2016/17. For 2018/19, it is about 160,000 fewer.

This assessment is based on the first bid round for 2017/18 and 2018/19 funding which was held in December 2016.