Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of all emergency measures agreements on rail franchises since (a) 1 March 2020 and (b) 15 June 2020.

Payments made to Train Operating Companies from 1 March- 27 June are published on the gov.uk website, and further publication of payments beyond June will be made in due course. The publication shows that over the period from 1 March - 27 June 2020, the department had paid the industry £2.28bn in total. This figure includes the costs incurred by the two publicly owned franchise operators (East Coast and Northern) as well as payments to those in private ownership, and incorporates subsidy payments that (before the COVID-19 pandemic began) were expected to be made to some operators during this period.