Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the service provided by Avanti.

Avanti West Coast has started to increase its service levels, targeting additional trains every day where they are most needed and train crew resources allow, but the current service remains insufficient. The issues experienced on Avanti West Coast are exactly why we need to modernise the railways, to ensure passengers get a reliable timetable no matter when they travel and are not relying on drivers working overtime in order to run a full service.