Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of rail services between Sheffield and Manchester Airport; and what plans he has to restore services between both destinations to pre-pandemic levels.

A regular service between Sheffield and Manchester Airport has not operated since COVID-19 timetables were introduced and its future, together with that of all the others serving central Manchester, was reviewed in depth by the Manchester Recovery Task Force.

Its recommendation, which has since been accepted by the Department and Transport for the North, is that the revised timetable structure should not re-introduce this service due to its performance impact, with passengers instead undertaking a simple cross-platform change at Manchester Piccadilly instead.