Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the profits remitting to the Exchequer from the LNER direct operations of the East Coast Mainline franchise.

LNER generates a surplus of revenue over costs. Updated forecasts for this surplus are provided by LNER and reviewed by DfT each quarter. An element of the profit is retained by LNER for franchise development but the majority is remitted to Government in the following three ways:

1. Premium paid to DfT which is a taxable cost

2. Corporation tax on the surplus less premium paid to HMRC

3. Dividends from retained profit paid to DfT

The three elements are identifiable in the statutory accounts filed by LNER. The forecasts are commercially sensitive.