Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 27 March (HL6439), what guarantees they have that the Bus Service Operators Grant funding devolved to local authorities is actually spent on bus services; and to what extent local authorities are allowed to use the grant as a substitute for money that they previously spent on supporting bus services.

The Bus Services Operators grant (BSOG) devolved to Local Authorities is ring-fenced and may only be used for the purposes of supporting bus services. At year-end the Chief Executive and Chief Internal Auditor of each recipient authority must return a declaration that the grant conditions have been complied with. It is up to individual local authorities to choose how they spend un-ringfenced funding, however local authorities are required to report annually on their spend.