Rail Reform

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Thursday 8th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right. A variety of people now use the railways, and the ticketing system needs to keep up with that, but I will take this opportunity to stress again that we understand the importance of face-to-face contact, which many customers value when buying tickets. We will ensure that we bear that in mind as we approach any decisions on ticket offices.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Sir Roy McNulty identified fragmentation in the industry as one of the major reasons why costs in the UK are so high. What will her plans to further fragment the industry do to those costs? Will they improve outcomes for passengers or increase the amount we pay in subsidy for the railways?

[Justine Greening]

We are not further fragmenting the industry; we are encouraging it to work collaboratively and more effectively. If by talking about fragmentation the hon. Gentleman is criticising our proposals to decentralise some decision making, I think that he is wrong.

Civil Aviation Bill

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise an issue that we also consider important. BAA also wants to ensure that it remains competitive, with connections to new markets, and that is the balance that we want to be struck. I know that the subject was raised last week at Prime Minister’s Question Time, and I know that the Prime Minister takes careful note of such matters. The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the work that the Government did to help ensure that we kept the connection between Northern Ireland and Newark airport in New York. We are strongly committed to ensuring that we have the connections between airports and across the country that our economy needs to be successful.

Part 1 of the Bill replaces the current framework for the economic regulation of airports with a flexible, modern regime designed to put consumers first. The current “one size fits all” system of economic regulation is rigidly focused on a five-year price control regime. The Bill replaces that with a flexible licensing regime which can be directed at areas where regulation adds real value, and which will allow the CAA to reduce or remove unnecessary regulation. The CAA will have the power to incentivise and improve airport resilience, and to take more speedy action to tackle poor performance. When competition in the market grows, airports will be removed from regulation when that is in passengers’ interests.

I understand the importance of clear and certain decision-making to the ability of businesses to make long-term investments in our transport infrastructure, particularly when billons of pounds of investment are at stake. Independent economic regulation ensures that there is no political interference, which is why it is such a common feature of modern economic regulatory regimes. The Bill will remove the Secretary of State’s role in deciding which airports are regulated and will give that responsibility to the independent CAA, which will need to make decisions based solely on the need to regulate and to protect the interests of consumers.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State has said that the CAA will have additional powers and responsibilities. Will she say a little more about that? I find it odd, for instance, that it is excluded from the remit of the National Audit Office.

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman correctly points out that exclusion and I will address his point shortly. When Sir Joseph Pilling reviewed that matter in 2008 he concluded that the current approach was appropriate.

Importantly, the CAA’s decisions will become more accountable because the Bill will provide greater access to challenge regulatory decisions. As the CAA discharges its responsibilities, it is essential that its decisions are guided by the needs of customers. Therefore, clause 1 establishes for the first time a single, clear, primary duty on the CAA to further the interests of consumers—all passengers and owners of air freight both now and in the future—and, wherever possible, to do that by promoting competition.

Some airlines have argued that the CAA’s duty should be extended to airlines as users of airports, alongside passengers. The airlines are important of course, but I am in no doubt that if conflicts of interest arise between airlines and passengers, the regulator must be squarely on the consumer’s side. To protect consumers at all airports, the Bill gives the CAA powers to enforce competition law concurrently with the Office of Fair Trading in the airport services sector.

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[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate, and to follow the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert). I am disappointed that he did not spend more time discussing his airport, of which I am a great fan, as I flew from there when I was in the Air Training Corps. However, there is an airport slightly closer to my heart now, given that I represent Luton South.

Many hon. Members have said that aviation is crucial if we are to achieve economic growth and change—a green economy—in future. I do not dissent from that view, as aviation has an important role to play. There are pressures on capacity in the south-east, for example, that I should like to discuss, but first I shall turn to the Bill. I was a member of the Select Committee on Transport when it examined the woeful performance of BAA in the winter weather of 2010. It was clear that there were major, extensive problems at Heathrow, and our report, which was quite authoritative, if I say so myself, underlined the way in which regulatory issues ended up affecting BAA’s performance.

I shall give an anecdote that stuck out for me when we took evidence on the inquiry. When Heathrow published its monthly performance figures in December 2010, it passed 56 of the 60-odd measures proposed at the time, because they did not measure what was important to passengers: the ability to leave the gate on time, and the conditions in which they were looked after. It is crazy, given the fact that there were delays of up to 72 hours for many passengers—we saw the scenes on our screens—that the performance measures that were taken into account did not show the problems at the airport.

It is not just Heathrow that is a problem, as the issue is on everyone’s mind. It is also about how the wider industry relates to the CAA, and how we hold the CAA to account. In that regard, the Bill is extremely welcome. The role of the CAA in taking on security is a welcome measure, as is the CAA having more flexibility and setting the licensing scheme for UK airports. However, airlines too are customers of airports; it is not just the end passenger who is buying a ticket. Indeed, as a user of airlines, I put my primary faith and expectation that everything will work in the airline’s hands: whether it is easyJet, BA, Virgin Atlantic or Ryanair, I would want to hold them to account. Sadly, when there are failings in airport operation, customers and passengers go to the airline in question, and the Bill could do more. I therefore support the introduction of a secondary duty for the CAA. The primary duty to the 210 million or so passengers is important, but there should be a secondary duty to ensure that airlines are served effectively by the CAA.

The CAA believes that its adoption of security functions will impose an additional £5 million charge on the industry, but there is little in the Bill about how scrutiny will be enhanced for the CAA. As my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) pointed out, we will seek to be helpful in Committee and amend the Bill. The NAO has a role to play in holding that major economic regulator to account.

On the wider issue of aviation, the Bill is extremely welcome, as it does many sensible things in a sensible way. However, it does not serve to fill the vacuum of aviation policy in this Parliament. We face a major capacity issue in the south-east, and there are broader environmental and economic concerns—we all accept that. However, the policy vacuum on capacity, particularly in the south-east, is not answered by the measures. In my own patch, London Luton airport can do much to assist with the solution to those problems.

[Mr Donohoe]

Given that it is rumoured that the Ministry of Defence is proposing to sell off RAF Northolt, does my hon. Friend believe that it is feasible that that could be part of the equation in overcoming the problem of congestion in the south-east?

[Gavin Shuker]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely strong case. I have looked at those proposals, and that airport is only a few miles from Heathrow.

[Mr Donohoe]

Four miles.

[Gavin Shuker]

Indeed, but I am not qualified to make that assessment.

My hon. Friend does, however, make the point that no options should be off the table. We have said, despite the fact that we made a manifesto commitment to a third runway at Heathrow, that we are willing to take that off the table if it enables us to enter into cross-party talks. These are long-term decisions taken for the country’s future, and that is a statesmanlike approach by our Front-Bench transport team. Failure to do anything is not an option. The capacity challenge in the south-east can be tackled if Luton airport increases its capacity from 10 million passengers to 18 million over a period. That is part of the answer, but it does not answer the broader question of how we establish a serious hub airport that can compete with other airports, particularly in Europe, on level ground.

In Luton, we can achieve 18 million passengers without significant ground works, and without extending the runway or building a second runway, which is welcome. We are 25 minutes from St Pancras—practically zone 3 on the London underground. We are one of the big four airports that, I believe, we are seeking to expand. Luton ultimately can absorb only a small amount of the additional capacity that is required, and we have heard different suggestions from different people in recent weeks. The expansion of Heathrow is not on the table, and we understand why the Secretary of State holds her personal convictions. An additional runway at Stansted has been ruled out. We have heard about the plans for “Heathwick”, linking Heathrow and Gatwick, although I am not sure exactly what those proposals would achieve. In the past fortnight, we have heard about “Boris island”, but whatever option we choose, we must find a long-term solution to the problem of capacity. If the Government are unwilling to do so while they are in power, we will have to face up to those problems when we are in government.

[Mark Lazarowicz]

Does my hon. Friend not agree that one of the drawbacks of “Boris island” or, indeed, any other plan for the Thames estuary is that it would set at naught all the ideas about linking high-speed rail to Heathrow airport if, at the end of the day, that airport moved somewhere 30 miles east?

[Gavin Shuker]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about high-speed rail, which is not a substitute for additional air passenger transport movements. It may be excellent at linking, for example, Birmingham and Heathrow, and our Front-Bench team has suggested proposals about how better to do so. This is a real issue of capacity that affects our economy. We cannot leave it to future generations to solve the long-term problems that we must face up to ourselves.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

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[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

I am pleased to speak after the hon. Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling), some of whose points I agree with, but I am also intrigued and somewhat amused by her introductory remarks and by those of the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle), who said that there was an elephant in the room and that the Bill has been in gestation for six years. Such gestation would bring tears to the eyes of the biggest elephant, and if the Opposition believe that this Bill is being rushed they would do well to remember that they had six years in which to bring a Bill forward and to make it an Act. Clearly, however, they had other things on their mind at the time.

[Gavin Shuker]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Christopher Pincher]

I am prepared to give way to the doughty defender of Luton South.

[Gavin Shuker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but I fear that he is being slightly disingenuous in mixing up what Opposition Members have said. The Bill was clearly designed to be introduced in the next Session, but it has been brought forward in this Session, because there is no legislation—because many Bills from this Session are at the other end of the corridor, in the other place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Thursday 23rd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Norman Baker]

I assure my hon. Friend that that matter has been fully taken on board. There will be a full consultation, including with residents of his constituency.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

FirstGroup also manages First Capital Connect, the franchisee operating the Thameslink route. As that franchisee has consistently low scores on customer performance, will the Minister give an assurance that the franchise will not automatically be extended in 2015 but that we will have an opportunity to put it out to tender once again?

[Norman Baker]

No decision has been made on that matter, although clearly there are franchise terms to be adhered to by the franchise holder, and requirements in law that must be adhered to by them and the Department. Performance is an important matter for the railway and it is something I take seriously, as does my right hon. Friend the Minister of State. I am aware of the concerns that have been expressed by passengers on the hon. Gentleman’s line and I shall be meeting railway operatives later today to discuss performance on the railway, including on his line.

Intercity Express and Rail Electrification

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I am well aware of the vigorous campaign to redouble the Kemble to Swindon link, and I know that the case will continue to be made for it as a major investment programme, and also for its possible inclusion in Network Rail’s next control period.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Following the delivery of the IEP, will the Secretary of State tell the House how many ageing InterCity 125s will still be on the network and for how long?

[Mr Hammond]

Only a small number of diesel 125s will remain on the network, and they will be serving the route down to Penzance in Cornwall. All the other 125s will be replaced by bi-mode trains under today’s proposal. I cannot say for how long those diesel 125s will remain on the network. There are no specific proposals to replace them at the moment, but I would remind the hon. Gentleman that the intercity express programme was always conceived as a commitment to a firm fleet of trains as the first phase, with options on further trains for future phases. It will therefore be for my successors at some point in the future to consider whether the remaining InterCity 125s should in due course be replaced by bi-mode IEPs.

Rail Investment

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Thursday 17th February 2011 Westminster Hall

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you, Mr Owen, for chairing the debate on such an important issue. As a member of the Transport Committee, I would like to thank those who went before me and prepared the report. As someone who commutes by train on a daily basis, this is a matter that is close to my heart, as it will be for my constituents and for all our constituents. Today, I would like to focus on investment plans for railway stations rather than track and carriages, in particular those known as category B stations, such as the one in my constituency of Luton South.

The Transport Committee’s third report “Priorities for investment in the railways” helpfully outlines the current investment needs of our railways. The report sets the discussion in its historical context. Despite the successes of passenger numbers in many places, our railways are sadly still overcrowded, outdated and underinvested. The rapid increase in passenger growth, up by 73% since privatisation, has simply not been matched with sufficient investment, for whatever reason. At the outset here, I would like to challenge the retort that the deficit gives a licence to scrap all prior recommendations. The Committee’s report was published in early 2010, when the challenge of the recession was real to us all. Cuts to investment were anticipated, so the Committee sought to make its recommendations on the basis of key priority needs. The recommendations in the report then are not pipe dreams, but the basic steps needed to bring our railways in line with essential common standards.

The report states:

“Cuts in transport investment are easy to make, but are costly in the long term, undermining future growth prospects and depriving future generations of a lasting legacy of good transport services.”

It concludes:

“Investment in improving transport infrastructure should be based on the long-term needs of the economy and society, not directed by the need for immediate public expenditure savings”.

In fact, the report speaks very highly of the benefits of investing in our railways.

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[Albert Owen (in the Chair)]

Order. Before I call Gavin Shuker, I will just explain that I will call the Front Benchers at about 5.15 pm, as we have an extra 15 minutes from the Division. Four Members are trying to catch my eye, so if the next speakers can consider a time limit of 10 minutes, we will get in everyone who wants to participate in the debate.

[Gavin Shuker]

Thank you, Mr Owen.

As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted by the business in the main Chamber, the Select Committee report concludes:

“Investment in improving transport infrastructure should be based on the long-term needs of the economy and society, not directed by the need for immediate public expenditure savings.”

In fact, the report spoke highly of the benefits of investing in our railways, recognising that enhancements often

“provide good value-for-money”—

what we put in regularly, we get back in increased usage. Targeted investment can have “important economic benefits” for community connection and regeneration, which means that not only the service provider, but our local businesses and communities cash in. The Government desperately need growth, and they must not ignore the potential for economic growth in the improvement of our railways.

[Kelvin Hopkins]

Like my hon. Friend, I travel from Luton station every day. Does he agree that railway stations are about not only transport facilities but the appearance and the impression given when people arrive in a town? The better a station looks, the more likely it is to encourage people to visit and businesses to stay, because it looks nice. That is a simple thing, but I am certain we need it, and I hope my hon. Friend agrees.

[Gavin Shuker]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Luton station welcomes us both home at the end of a long evening in Parliament, and I only wish that all passengers had the enjoyment of sitting opposite my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) on their return journeys, so that their conversations might be as enlightened as ours often are. He makes a strong point that stations are the gateway to broader communities. Investment in infrastructure, transport infrastructure and stations in particular bring a halo effect.

As we all know, rail is particularly important as a mode of transport for business. In my region, the east of England, eight out of 10 rail journeys are made for business purposes, all by people commuting to work. If we are to support people fully in their ability to get to work, investment in our railways is vital. Eddington argued that

“the rising cost of congestion will waste an extra £22 billion worth of time in England alone by 2025.”

Our transport links, therefore, are a

“key enabler of productivity and competitiveness”—

according to the Select Committee report—and, in short, we have no choice but to invest if we want growth and jobs. Let us not dismiss our future prosperity with a narrow argument made solely in the name of the deficit.

It is also worth noting that investment in construction is one of the silver bullets in Government action to get significant economic growth. The improvement of stations is identified in the report as one of the key improvement projects worthy of consideration in the next control period. Station upgrades are highlighted as beneficial in wider area regeneration. Stations are not simply sheds in which we shelter from the rain, as my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North has said. They are key functional zones and play an important role in the total journey experience and in enabling economic productivity in a wider region.

We all know that first impressions count. I am incredibly proud of the town of Luton—I am, indeed, from what I hope shortly to call the city of Luton. However, I confess that it is not with pride that I welcome visitors at Luton railway station. The station has been assessed as one of the worst stations in the whole of the United Kingdom, measured by equivalent passenger numbers. In the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North, in his Adjournment debate last year:

“It is drab, dreary and depressing.”—[Official Report, 23 March 2010; Vol. 508, c. 63WH.]

It does not do our area justice, and the population of Luton has been complaining about it for long enough.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

In addition to those remarks, I had the experience of going to Luton many years ago, but I suspect that the station is exactly the same as it was then. Safety is also involved. As a woman, certainly, I felt incredibly unsafe in Luton station, because of the layout and everything else. That is such an important element.

[Gavin Shuker]

My hon. Friend has anticipated my next point. We ought to expect certain key standards from major stations. If stations do not live up to them, as in Luton, they require significant investment.

Do not take that judgment from me alone. Luton station is known as a category B railway station—it is the second busiest type of station, a national interchange seeing high levels of passenger traffic. All stations in the UK are categorised, from A, the busiest national hubs, right the way through down to F, which are unstaffed stations. Levels of passenger traffic increase up the categories. Sixty-six stations are classified as category B, accounting for 3% of the total number of stations in England and Wales.

That all seems logical. However, the criteria for category A and category B stations are broadly identical. Each station must witness more than 2 million trips a year and £20 million in annual revenue, meaning that a notoriously busy station such as Clapham Junction can fall into category B and be subject to far lower levels of investment than stations in category A. If we do have a classless society, it certainly is not currently witnessed on our tracks.

The 2009 independent report by Chris Green and Professor Sir Peter Hall, “Better Rail Stations”, highlighted category B stations as the category of station most in need of immediate investment—dire need, one might say. The report concluded that

“the National ‘B’ Interchange stations are not adequately funded to meet the Minimum Standards and represent the biggest ‘gap’ in station consistency.”

It later made a strong point:

“They tend to lie in the shadow of the high-earning ‘A’ stations and are under-invested for their daily role as major transport interchanges.”

Stations such as Luton and Clapham Junction are not receiving the investment they merit for their important roles in our national network. The report highlighted 10 category B stations deemed in need of immediate upgrade work and recommended the creation of a sinking fund to help those stations meet basic minimum standards. The previous Labour Government accepted those proposals, and Network Rail committed £5 million to the project in Luton alone. The rest of that funding was in place, and the people of Luton celebrated that. Retailers began to plan for the better shops and conveniences they could offer, offering additional revenue back into the network from increased rental spaces. However, on 25 June last year, the Government announced that the better stations scheme would be scrapped. Frankly, the cancellation of the programme was an utter sham. Network Rail rolled over far too easily and quickly on a well-considered scheme that was welcomed by many hon. Members. As yet, we have no answers as to how the improvements will now be done.

The Minister will undoubtedly be proud of the settlement her Department secured, which we all agree was far better than expected. However, her Department made a mistake in putting pressure on Network Rail to cave in and damaging regeneration across those 10 key areas, where we could make a real practical difference to stations.

As we look at ways that investment in our railways can be part of wider economic regeneration, let us not overlook our stations. As the “Better Rail Stations” report rightly points out:

“Stations cannot be seen in isolation—they are part of the total journey experience…Stations are deeply entwined with their local community and effectively act as the gateway to both town and railway. They leave passengers with their lasting impressions of both—a dilapidated station is bad business for both town and railway.”

Our category B stations have been left to rot away for far too long as energy has been focused on a handful of shiny new hubs. Those vital interchanges do not satisfy basic standards. The decision to scrap the upgrade scheme was hurried, short-sighted and counter-productive. As we reassess priorities for investment and review the findings of that finely worded report, let us not make the same mistake again.

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[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Owen. I too congratulate the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman) on her Committee’s report and on securing this important debate.

It is good that there has been a reasonable degree of consensus, perhaps not entirely on high-speed rail but on the need for investment in the railways in general and the importance of that to the economy, the environment and the country. That is just as well because, given the time scales involved, it would be a disaster if those policies were to be chopped and changed between Administrations.

It is right to give due credit to the previous Secretary of State, Lord Adonis, who planned much of the investment that is now going forward. The present Secretary of State had his eye on the post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and may have been a little disappointed not to have secured that position, but every cloud has a silver lining and the Treasury’s loss was certainly our gain—rather, it was the railway’s gain, because he has secured one of the most outstanding settlements, and that is a credit to him and his ministerial team, and to the Government, whose overall commitment to maintaining capital spending in these difficult times means that we have secured most of the investment originally planned for the railways. That includes core funding for control period 4, for the Thameslink upgrade and Crossrail, and for High Speed 2.

It was a little uncharacteristically partisan of the hon. Lady to suggest that there was a deliberate policy to price people off the railways. That is so obviously nonsense and not part of the Government’s strategy that it should not be repeated.

[Gavin Shuker]

I want to put on record the fact that I was pleased to receive from the Minister of State the information that, as a result of RPI plus 3%, growth in the railways will be diminished by 4%.

[Martin Horwood]

Supply and demand on the railways clearly do not work in favour of the customer. If the Government had not taken a realistic approach to fares, as well as to public support for the railways, some of that critical investment in the railway’s future would have been lost. That, too, would in the end have damaged the interests of customers.

It is obviously regrettable that any fares have to rise at all. We all want to see them fall. Indeed, that Liberal Democrat aspiration was included in our manifesto. However, we must recognise that the Labour party has left us with an annual overspend that would have swallowed the Department for Transport’s budget many times over. We have to be realistic about the need to invest in that kind of environment.

The Select Committee made some important points about the security of that investment programme. Some of those programmes have been maintained. The Minister will know that I am going to mention one project that I think she maintains was not agreed but which I consistently maintain had been agreed, which is the redoubling of the Swindon to Kemble line. It was given enormous support by the Welsh Assembly, local councils, Labour MPs from south Wales and Swindon, Tory MPs from the counties between, and Liberal Democrats from Cheltenham, Bristol and Cardiff—and probably Chippenham.

The redoubling of that short stretch of line would have an enormous impact on the reliability of all the routes that serve those areas and constituencies. It would also be important to the resilience of the network in the west of England, particularly in the event of interruptions to cross-Severn services. Once again, I urge the Minister to look down the departmental sofa to see if any pennies can be found to secure that one project. It is a shame, but it is virtually the only railway project that was agreed under the previous Government that is not going forward.

The Select Committee report rightly talked about the value of rail enhancements, including many local projects, and stressed that they were as important as many of the larger projects. The importance of the right decision-making methodology was also mentioned. My hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Duncan Hames) made some excellent points about the need for a long-term strategic view and for joined-up planning in that respect. However, environmental concerns now take an even greater part in that methodology.

Passenger experience, too, is important. When it comes to franchise reform, it is important that we do not use only the basic metrics, such as punctuality; we should also consider the quality of passenger experience on some of our railway services. I would nominate leg room as being one of the most important. Passenger experience should play a much greater part not only in the awarding of franchises but in their maintenance and, if necessary, their recall when services and standards fall. It is also important that regional balance is considered. Many Members have made similar points. Some of the specific medium to long-term priorities identified in the report were equally important, and the points were all well made. I am an unashamed supporter of high-speed rail as is the Liberal Democrat party. The time scales involved are quite mind boggling. We can reassure some hon. Members about the investment involved, because it is spread over a long period of time.

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[Mrs Villiers]

I am afraid that I really cannot. I do apologise.

We will face severe congestion and overcrowding on those routes in years to come, unless we act now to begin the process of delivering that capacity.

On the alternatives, upgrades of an existing line, even extensive ones, could deliver only half a new line’s capacity benefit and would be more expensive. My hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire asked whether 12-car trains would deliver the equivalent capacity: no, they absolutely would not. The hon. Member for Luton North asked whether new signalling would deliver it, and the answer is the same. We are already introducing new capacity on existing lines, and there comes a point at which incremental changes do not deliver the upgrade needed. Moreover, High Speed 2 will deliver the benefits of capacity released on the existing network, with major benefits for places such as Milton Keynes, Luton, Northampton and Peterborough, and also for freight operators.

I sincerely believe that careful mitigation can address many of the most serious local impacts, and I know that my hon. Friend will continue to fight hard for her constituents, who might be affected by the line. We welcome their involvement in the consultation process on which we are about to embark, to ensure that we get the right answers on high-speed rail and that we listen to the views of people affected by it.

After 20 years of discussion, Crossrail is finally going ahead. I hope that that answers those concerned that High Speed 2 will swallow up all the funding available for rail. The hon. Gentleman complained that the Hitchin flyover might not go ahead as a result of the funding pressure on high-speed rail. It is under way, or will be shortly, as it is in an investment programme to which the Government have committed. We have confirmed that the Thameslink programme will proceed in full, despite anxiety that it might not. Some 1,200 new carriages will be delivered, almost doubling the number of north-south trains through the capital at peak times.

On the Derby factory and the procurement of the Thameslink trains, the hon. Member for Glasgow South tempted me to depart from the EU’s procurement rules. I fear that I would find myself falling foul of the European Communities Act 1972 if I did, so I will not advocate failing to abide by our treaty obligations, but I can assure the House that bids from UK-based operators will be considered carefully and assessed fairly, objectively and equally.

The Government expect an additional 650 carriages in several of our major cities by 2014. We expect services to be strengthened into Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol—to answer the concerns of the hon. Member for Chippenham (Duncan Hames)—London Paddington and London Waterloo. In addition, new Thameslink and Crossrail rolling stock will enable the redeployment of hundreds more existing electric carriages, strengthening the case for further electrification of our network. I hope that that responds to the concerns expressed about the quality of rolling stock in the north. The hon. Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling) rightly raised concerns about the quality of that rolling stock and the notorious Pacer trains. We believe that our programme of new rolling stock will help address those concerns.

As the Chancellor confirmed in his Budget speech, lines between Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Blackpool will be electrified. The redeployment of electric rolling stock to those routes will in turn free up hundreds of diesel units, which will be available for train operators to lease after 2015. In November, the Secretary of State announced that Network Rail will electrify routes on the Great Western main line from London to Didcot, Oxford and Newbury. We expect to make an announcement shortly on the further electrification of that line. We have decided to press ahead with plans to buy a new fleet of trains to replace most of the high-speed trains operating on the Great Western and east coast lines. We have narrowed down the options to two, and we hope to give the House more information in the near future.

The hon. Member for Luton South and others were concerned about stations. We are continuing with the £150 million national stations improvement programme and the £370 million access for all programme, including £2.3 million to be spent on a scheme at Luton.

[Gavin Shuker]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mrs Villiers]

I am afraid that I cannot. I have run out of time. Birmingham New Street will go ahead, hopefully delivering economic benefits of £2 billion. Improvements at Reading will address a long-standing bottleneck, benefiting people across the Great Western line.

The Chairman of the Select Committee and others are absolutely right to say that it is crucial to get better value for taxpayers’ and passengers’ funding of the railways. Reforming our railways and reducing their cost is essential. The Chairman of the Select Committee and the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) rightly expressed concerns about the high cost of Network Rail compared with other operators in Europe. We recognise fully the concerns about rail fares. To answer the shadow Minister’s question, we believe that we should share the benefits of the reduction in railway running costs that we expect the McNulty review to deliver. They will be shared between fare payers and taxpayers. We are also clear that any changes suggested by the McNulty review must protect freight operators’ interests.

There is an important role for open access, as my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys urged me to make clear, although open access is not necessarily his only hope of direct train services between Blackpool and London. No decisions have been made yet, but it is possible that that might form part of franchised operations.

We are working closely on the northern hub. I recognise that there is a lot of support for it. Dealing with the problems identified in the project would be of great benefit to the economy of the north of England. I cannot give any guarantees today, but it must be a strong candidate for funding in the next control period.

Hon. Members have supported a list of projects. On the Swindon-Kemble line, if there were any spare funding down the DFT’s sofa, as the hon. Member for Cheltenham asked, I am sure that Swindon-Kemble would be a good candidate. However, he will appreciate that our rail budgets are fully committed. He made a good point about the improvements to resilience that the project would deliver. The hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside mentioned the midland main line. There is a strong business case for it, but again, affordability is a concern. I am always happy to talk about Kirkstall Forge, and I look forward to the revised bid, which I believe will be made in September. It is a good scheme with significant benefits, and I hope that one day it will proceed. We will have to see whether it proves affordable, given our budget constraints.

I am grateful for the time allowed me to speak in this debate.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Thursday 2nd December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mike Penning]

The shadow Minister is better than that; he knows full well that some speed cameras work very well and some do not. The pre-2004 speed cameras in many areas, including my own, where the money was hypothecated straight back to the local authorities, were there to raise cash, not necessarily to prevent accidents. It is up to local authorities to use the money that has been given to them by central Government for their communities. It is for them to decide, not central Government.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

9. What steps he is taking to ensure that the Thameslink project is completed on time.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Philip Hammond)]

As I confirmed on 25 November, the Thameslink programme will go ahead in full. To improve delivery confidence, we will defer completion of the full programme, allowing 24 trains per hour in each direction, until 2018. This will reduce both cost and risk, particularly in respect of the reconstruction of London Bridge station. Passengers will start to see benefits from December 2011, when works at Blackfriars will be completed, and some 12-car trains will start to run from Bedford through to Brighton.

[Gavin Shuker]

As the Secretary of State will be aware, many of my constituents are struggling to get into work this morning on the existing rolling stock. New rolling stock is therefore vital as part of the Thameslink upgrade. Would he be willing to share the time scales for delivery of such rolling stock and place the information on record in the House?

[Mr Hammond]

It is expected that the new Thameslink rolling stock—1,200 vehicles—will start to be delivered in 2015, and delivery should be completed by 2019.

Transport (Investment)

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Tuesday 26th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

That is the third representation that we have had on the Coventry-Nuneaton rail upgrade this afternoon. I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend, and may I tempt him to include Opposition Members who have an interest in this? He and they are welcome to come along and talk about it.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Minister understand the concern that he will cause in Luton and the surrounding areas by his shelving of the A5-M1 link road to the north of Luton, which is vital not only for improving transport but for solving our housing problems? Those housing problems will be even more acute in the coming years because of the coalition’s policies, which will force London residents out to places such as Luton.

[Mr Hammond]

The A5-M1 link road has not been shelved: it is a scheme on which we will do further development work. From memory, the issue involves the possibility of a significant developer contribution and the building of the road will open up significant amounts of developable land. We will need to do some further work to ensure that we extract the maximum possible developer contribution and that the public purse is not left to pick up a cost that should properly be borne by the private sector.

Mutual and Co-operative Rail Franchise Bids

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Westminster Hall

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to undertake this debate today. I thank the Minister of State for the communication that I have had with her office in the past few days. We are talking about an important subject. We all like to grumble about the railways. Hon. Members are not exempt from that; indeed, I could tell the story of my last disrupted journey, which was this morning. However, the very difficult privatisation of the early 1990s, brought about by the Minister’s predecessors, sought to privatise a network in 40 weeks. That meant severe growing pains and a sharp learning curve. Other countries are travelling down that path over several decades, which is perhaps a salutary lesson to the present Government about the path and speed of change. However, we all accept that a new order is emerging, and it is right to accept that aspects of the industry today are the envy of Europe.

In the past 10 years, the combined measure of reliability and punctuality has risen from 78 to 91.5% and satisfaction has risen from 72 to 83%, with more passenger journeys now undertaken than at any point since the second world war. Yet, as we come into the constrained spending context of the comprehensive spending review, as the Department closes its consultation on rail franchising, and as customer expectation will rise in light of the massive fair increases of RPI plus 3 proposed by the coalition Government, a re-examination of provision on the UK’s passenger railways must surely be prioritised.

So, how do we improve rail? It is my assertion today that co-operative and mutual ventures across the industry can raise the bar. They can model accountability and effective public engagement, and improve services. When looking at franchising, which is the bedrock of the passenger network, it is necessary to set it within the context of the industry, which means briefly discussing the infrastructure manager—Network Rail.

Network Rail’s board structure, with about 100 members, is perceived as clunky and ineffectual in providing effective control. In 2004, the then Transport Committee stated:

“Network Rail did not convince us that members of the company were exercising an effective control of the company”.

In July 2008, the Committee returned to the theme of Network Rail, and found its governance “inadequate”. Network Rail provides a vital public service and was created as a public interest company, limited by Government guarantee, but genuine accountability, which is essential for driving up standards across the railways, is vital and should be expected in return for the large sums of money that the body receives from the taxpayer.

The Co-operative party has been key in developing a mutual model for Network Rail through “The People’s Rail” campaign, and as a Co-operative MP I welcome that contribution. The campaign contests the assertion that true accountability could be ensured by our all having the right to become individual members of Network Rail. As a genuine mutual venture, Network Rail could be structured in such a way that we all had a voice. A democratically elected members’ council with power over the appointment and pay of Network Rail’s board could drive up performance and accountability and, dare I say it, tackle a culture of excessive bonuses.

[Mr Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)]

I apologise to my hon. Friend for missing the very first part of his contribution. Is there not a similarity between what he proposes for Network Rail and the model that the coalition Government have endorsed as the way forward for something that was introduced by us—foundation hospitals? Exactly that type of structure has been designed to help to hold to account the senior management of our hospitals.

[Gavin Shuker]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, with which I completely agree, and I associate myself with his comments. What we have seen from the coalition Government is a desire to look at innovative models across public services, and I believe that railways should not be exempt.

As I was saying, a democratically elected members’ council with the power of appointment and pay over Network Rail’s board could drive up performance. Co-operative and mutual structures deliver organisations that act in our interests. Who would be a better boss of the rail network than the passengers and the British public themselves?

Moving on to the bulk of my remarks on rail franchising, in a reply to a question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) in the House on 22 July, the Minister said:

“There would be no barriers to mutuals and co-operatives bidding for franchises if they fulfilled the criteria.”—[Official Report, 22 July 2010; Vol. 514, c. 541.]

However, it is clear that there are still some barriers to entry, despite the stated desire of the coalition to explore innovative models of public service delivery. We in the Co-operative party would like to see those models given all the opportunities that are before them.

The system as it stands does not make allowance for the arrival of mutual and co-operative ventures. First, bidders are required to pass a number of detailed financial tests during the bidding process. ASLEF has said that a mutual bid would not be able to meet the performance bond requirement, and has called on the Department for Transport to review the performance bond criteria. Surely that is an area for examination. Secondly, bidders are understandably required to show experience of operating transportation systems. Can the Minister provide an assurance that the interpretation of that requirement is wide enough to ensure that mutual models in which individual members have extensive experience of running transport services—even the ones that they currently work on—but in which there is a new team coming together, perhaps under a new brand, are able to bid on a level playing field? Thirdly, the fact that no franchise has yet been awarded to a mutual ownership model on the railways itself serves as a barrier to entry.

To bring about the innovation that could drive up levels of service and accountability across the industry, will the Minister carefully consider the arguments for awarding the first mutual franchise during her time as Minister? Perhaps she could start by meeting representatives of ASLEF. The union has been preparing a mutual bid to run the east coast main line rail franchise when invitations to tender are announced in 2011. It believes that the co-operative principles of sustainability and accountability should be brought front and centre in the provision of passenger rail in the UK.

A common perception is that co-operatives are small and therefore unable to step up to the financial requirements of such a large franchise. However, the Co-operative Group has a turnover of more than £10 billion, and the east coast franchise turnover is only £550 million. The Go! Co-operative is one of the most recently established train operating companies, and down the track, as it were, it seeks to run open-access train services. That co-operative has already been authorised by the Financial Services Authority to raise the required funds, and I am sure that the Minister will want to welcome that initiative. I encourage her to take the time to talk to representatives of Go! Co-operative and to understand, in real time, both the challenges and the opportunities that are presented to people who enter the franchise system.

[Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the strength of mutuals is that they can represent the interests both of those working in the organisation and those who use its services?

[Gavin Shuker]

Absolutely. I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and I would like to associate myself with her comments. It is true that when different stakeholders, including the people who work on the railways, are brought together, that always results in a much better service. Rail franchising is a key aspect of mutuals’ activity on the railways, but there are other ventures, too, to consider.

Enterprises that are owned and controlled by those who have a vested interest in their success should not be confined to the running of the railway itself. Many services that work alongside the main business add value to the traveller experience. Services such as cleaning, catering, customer service and training would be greatly improved by local accountability that allowed the services to respond flexibly to changing needs. The Cleaning Co-op based in Bristol has already won contracts to work with Birse Rail, CrossCountry and Virgin Trains. It provides cleaning services to Oxford and Bristol universities, local schools and the NHS. As a result of its unique structure, it not only provides a highly professional service but has a high staff retention rate and a motivated work force. It is highly valued by its clients, who are also its partners. The Cleaning Co-op is one example, but there are many successful retail, catering and training co-operatives, all of which could add to the traveller experience in a mutualisation of rail franchising.

Mutualism has much to offer in the governance of Network Rail, the system of rail franchising and the services that enable a decent passenger experience. I hope that the Minister will speak about the positive contribution of these talented, professional and visionary co-operatives. As we all recognise, UK rail faces significant challenges in the years to come. There is a requirement to show that passengers are getting a fair deal. There is a desire to see profits reinvested in better services. What better way to reassure passengers that the railways have their interests are at heart and that the staff who serve them truly have a seat at the table, than to see mutual operators on our railways?