Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the proposed reduction in the rail budget for Transport for the North will have on their levelling-up agenda.

The Rail North Partnership Grant that Transport for the North receives from the Department will continue unchanged in the next financial year. In addition, to date, over £100m has been spent on Northern Powerhouse Rail development, with at least another £75m next year. The Department and Transport for the North are currently working closely together to develop a revised Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for NPR, which is due to be submitted in 2021.

The most recent allocation of core funding to Transport for the North will enable the organisation to continue to play a valuable role in delivering its statutory functions of developing a transport strategy for the region and helping the Department to prioritise, bringing strength of partnership among members to speak to the government with one voice. The Department will continue to work with TfN to achieve our shared ambition of world-class infrastructure in the region.

The Spending Review settlement includes funding for key transport infrastructure projects and programmes in the North, and the Spending Review also demonstrated our commitment to accelerate projects in the North.