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.

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.