Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has met with representatives of Hitachi Rail to discuss the sustainability of its factory in the North East.

Representatives from Hitachi rail were present at a meeting the Secretary of State held with TransPennine Express, and relevant stakeholders, to discuss TransPennine Express’ recent poor performance. The facility at Newton Aycliffe was not discussed as it was not part of the agenda. Officials from the Department regularly engage with representatives from Hitachi on a number of matters including current and future projects.

The Minister for Business & Industry met with the MP for Sedgefield, the constituency in which Hitachi Rail’s factory in Newton Aycliffe is situated, on 14^th January.

At that meeting the Minister for Business & Industry was informed that a 45 day consultation period is currently underway, and while the exact numbers won’t be known until late February or early March, understands that some may be redeployed elsewhere in Hitachi Rail Limited (HRL). The Minister welcomed HRL’s decision to invest £8.5m in additional capability in Newton Aycliffe to make the plant more competitive and sustainable in the long term, as this demonstrates the company’s long term commitment to the North East.

BEIS officials have been in close contact with HRL senior management at Newton Aycliffe through the last year over investment in the plant to increase capability and, following the 14^th January meeting, have fed back directly to HRL that the Minister would welcome a meeting with the company’s representatives.