Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the various criteria used to assess how operators of rail franchises are delivering (1) the level of quality of service, and (2) other commitments, provided for under the franchise agreement; and what assessment has been made of their effectiveness.

As part of the franchising programme and the Government’s commitment to managing contracts as effectively as possible, the Department for Transport has worked closely with industry to ensure that the terms of franchise agreements and the associated administrative processes ensure that operators:

• Know what is expected of them and when
• Understand the evidence required to support contract administration for example, appropriate evidence to demonstrate delivery of committed obligations within the contract
• Have the opportunity to put forward proposed improvements to the contract and their service delivery, and to discuss these in the appropriate forums
• Are held to account when they do not deliver on their obligations

The Department’s approach to franchise management seeks to strike the balance between giving operators the comparative freedom to focus on service delivery whilst providing sufficient oversight to protect the public purse and the interests of the passenger. In most existing Franchise Agreements, this takes the form of monthly reporting of financial, operational, management and compliance information.

Work is ongoing to develop the Department’s monitoring of benefits being realised through delivery of committed obligations within the contract. Lessons learned is embedded into franchise management and feeds into franchise specific competitions for specification design.

In addition, most franchise agreements include targets and financial incentives for customer satisfaction, measured through the National Rail Passenger Survey, and some also include other financial incentive regimes for service quality.