Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Sugg on 29 November (HL Deb, cols 679–82), whether any other rail company, besides Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group on the East Coast franchise, has indicated to HM Government a desire to end its existing franchise early and forge a public–private partnership; and if so, which.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Due to commercial confidentiality, we don’t comment on the financial position of individual franchises. We work closely with all our franchisees throughout their contracts and monitor their progress against their contractual commitments. We expect all operators and their guarantors to continue to fulfil their financial and contractual commitments.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the traffic performance of each of the train companies operating rail franchises in the first six months of 2017; and how that performance compares to the projections of traffic for that period in those companies' final bids for the franchises.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Office of Rail and Road produces data on the number of passenger journeys made (millions) on franchised train operators in Great Britain. The data for the period between January and March; and April and June 2017 are given in the table below:
Rail passenger journeys by franchised train operator, Great Britain
| Jan - Mar 2017 | Apr - Jun 2017 |
Arriva Trains Wales | 7.8 | 8.0 |
c2c | 12.3 | 11.6 |
Caledonian Sleeper | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Chiltern Railways | 7.0 | 6.8 |
CrossCountry | 9.7 | 9.7 |
East Midlands Trains | 6.7 | 6.6 |
Govia Thameslink Railway | 80.3 | 77.9 |
Great Western Railway | 25.7 | 25.9 |
Greater Anglia | 20.5 | 19.9 |
London Midland | 19.3 | 17.6 |
London Overground | 47.5 | 47.0 |
Merseyrail | 9.6 | 10.1 |
Northern | 27.4 | 25.7 |
ScotRail | 23.9 | 23.5 |
South West Trains | 58.0 | 52.1 |
Southeastern | 46.9 | 41.6 |
TfL Rail | 11.3 | 10.2 |
TransPennine Express | 6.9 | 6.5 |
Virgin Trains East Coast | 5.5 | 5.3 |
Virgin Trains West Coast | 9.7 | 9.2 |
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the statement by Baroness Sugg on 29 November (HL Deb, cols 679-682), whether any rail franchise operator, other than Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group on the East Coast franchise, will be eligible to terminate their existing franchise early and forge a public private partnership instead.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We expect all operators and their guarantors to continue to fulfil their financial and contractual commitments.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Comptroller and Auditor General was informed, prior to the announcement on 29 November, of the decision to terminate the Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group East Coast franchise three years early; and if so, whether he raised any issues or concerns.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Comptroller and Auditor General was not informed prior to the announcement on 29th November.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what infrastructure improvements by Network Rail had been (1) contracted, and (2) announced, in respect of the East Coast Main Line at the time the contract with Virgin Rail Group and Stagecoach Group for the East Coast franchise was signed; and what precise contractual obligations lay with (a) HM Government, and (b) Network Rail, to ensure the timely completion of those works as part of that franchise.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
At the time the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise was awarded NR were developing a package of enhancements to the route that sought to enable the Intercity Express Programme fleet to operate, increase the frequency of trains and reduce journey times for passengers. The infrastructure enhancements on East Coast Main Line were announced by Network Rail in their published Enhancement Delivery Plan, which is regulated by the Office and Rail and Road (ORR).
There are no contractual arrangements between Network Rail and HM Government in respect of these works.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport (1) asked for, and (2) was given, a ministerial direction before the Secretary of State announced the end of the current East Coast Franchise on 29 November; and if not, whether they are satisfied that their decision represents value for money and the efficient use of public funds.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport did not ask for, and accordingly was not given, a ministerial direction in this case.
Assessments of Value for Money and the efficient use of public funds will be made at the appropriate stage in our standard processes. All decisions will be guided by HMG’s “Managing Public Money” guidance in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what payments they expect to receive from (1) Virgin Rail Group, and (2) Stagecoach Group, in each year from 2020 to 2023 under the proposed East Coast Partnership; and whether those payments might be lower than those contracted under the existing franchise.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We have set out our plans to end the operational divide between track and train, and from 2020 the East Coast Partnership will be one of the first of a new generation of integrated regional rail operations.
This will be subject to a competitive process, and will include appropriate contributions paid from the private partner to the government.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what premium payments are due to be paid to them under the existing East Coast franchise, in each year until 2023.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The current East Coast franchise operated by Virgin Trains East Coast commenced 1st March 2015. An announcement of the expected premium over the duration of the contract was made at franchise award. All premiums due to date under the contract have been paid. Payments by franchised operators are published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) annually and can be found on their website.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Secretary of State for Transport on 29 November (HC Deb, col 344) that “Stagecoach will meet in full the commitments it made to the Government as part of this contract”, and to the remarks by Baroness Sugg on 29 November (HL Deb, col 688) that “as part of the bidding Stagecoach made a series of financial commitments. It has met them in full to date and the Department for Transport expects it to continue to honour them”, whether those commitments apply to the full period until the end of the existing East Coast franchise contract in 2023; and if not, whether they will clarify their remarks.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
As with all recent franchise awards, Stagecoach Group PLC committed parent company support to inject funds into the franchise in circumstances where it doesn’t perform as predicted. We will hold them to that commitment in full.
From 2020 the East Coast Partnership will operate, one of the first of a new generation of integrated regional rail operations. This will include appropriate contributions from the new private partner under a long-term competitively procured contract.
We are always looking for the best ways to achieve value for money for the taxpayer and the best results for passengers. Reforms will build on the best of the public and private sectors, with private sector involvement bringing innovation, investment and competition.
Asked by: Lord Adonis (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they received from Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group, or their subsidiaries, prior to the publication of their Command Paper Connecting people: a strategic vision for rail (Cm 9519) on 29 November concerning the East Coast franchise; and whether they will publish those representations, including notes of meetings and conversations between ministers, officials and executives at Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group, or their subsidiaries.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We regularly meet and work closely with all our franchisees and their owning groups. Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group are no exceptions.
We are in discussions with Virgin-Stagecoach to ensure the needs of passengers and taxpayers will be met in the short term whilst laying the foundations to bring forward the reforms in full under a long-term competitively procured contract.