Asked by
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the appointment of a
chair of Shadow Great British Railways was subject to a
competitive process.
The Minister of State, Department for Transport ( of Richmond Hill) (Lab)
My Lords, passengers and the taxpayer cannot afford to wait until
we have established Great British Railways. Therefore, we have
taken the immediate steps of establishing shadow Great British
Railways and appointing Laura Shoaf, by a direct ministerial
appointment in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance, as its
chair. She brings immense hands-on experience of delivering
change and a shared desire to move fast to fix things. The future
chair of Great British Railways will be appointed through open
competition in due course.
(Con)
My Lords, this Question is not about any individual. Will the
Minister say how many businesses of the scale of Great British
Railways would appoint a chairman without any sort of competition
or any opportunity for other people to put themselves forward? Is
this a reasonable thing to do?
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
Yes, it is a reasonable thing to do. This is not the chair of
Great British Railways, which will be established after the
substantive railway Bill in due course; this is an arrangement to
bring some benefits to the railway to counter the now 31 years of
fragmentation and balkanisation, and, in particular, to bring
together the three parts of the already publicly owned railway:
the rail services division of the Department for Transport,
Network Rail and directly operated holdings. It is a very
reasonable thing to do and it will deliver results.
(LD)
My Lords, Laura Shoaf has been chief executive of West Midlands
Combined Authority, and we on these Benches are pleased that she
brings deep experience of devolution, which we hold dear as one
of the solutions for the future of our railways. Passengers are
impatient to see signs of improvement, so can the Minister assure
us that the promise to establish a passenger standards authority
will be kept? Will the Government also consider establishing that
in shadow form, so that it can get on with the job of improving
standards for passengers as soon as possible?
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for her endorsement of the
qualifications of Laura Shoaf, who is indeed well acquainted with
both the operation and development of urban transport systems and
devolution. The passenger standards authority will be put
together in the substantive railway Bill. In the meantime, there
is Transport Focus, and we have had recent discussions in
Committee about what can be done in the lead-up to the
substantive Bill.
(Con)
My Lords, can the Minister find time to turn his attention to the
HS2 timetable? In particular, can he tell the House now, in the
light of the Budget announcements, when the major capital work at
Euston station will be completed?
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
The Chancellor announced in the Autumn Budget that the tunnels
from Old Oak Common to Euston will be built. It is, of course,
necessary to have built the tunnels in order to develop the
station. The Government are now turning their attention to how
the station should be developed in a cost-effective manner and
how it will be funded, and there will be more on that in due
course.
of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, may I, as a regular rail user, say how grateful we are
to the Government for sorting out the chaos of the last 30-plus
years? The track, the rail infrastructure, the engines and the
operators are all in separate companies, and it has been total
chaos. Is it not about time that the man principally responsible,
the noble Lord, Lord Young, gets up and apologises for the mess
that he has provided us with over the last 30-plus years?
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
I should concentrate on my noble friend's right description of
the chaos of the last 30 years. The railway is not functioning
properly; far too much of the time of everybody concerned with
managing the railway is spent on blame attribution and
contractual negotiation, and far too little is spent on
delivering a decent service for passengers and freight and making
the railway do what it should do for the economy. That is what
the Government's policy is designed to change.
(Con)
My Lords, following the privatisation of the railways, in which I
played a modest part, decades of decline in passenger traffic was
reversed. Once the dead hand of the Treasury was removed from
investment, there was fresh investment in new rolling stock and
modernising the stations, passenger fares were pegged at RPI
minus one—a policy reversed by the Government adorned by the
noble Lord, Lord Foulkes—passenger safety improved, and we
developed a market in train operating companies to replace the
monopoly of British Rail. What was not to like about that?
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
Since Covid, the railway has got only four-fifths of its previous
income. The train operating companies are now, in effect, flat
contractors to government and their owners are unable to take
much, if any, financial risk. The service to passengers is not as
good as it should be, and the Government's policy is designed to
make that significant change.
(Lab)
My Lords, under the last Government, it was cheaper to fly to New
York than it was to travel from Manchester to Euston by train.
Will the Minister do something about the overpricing of trains to
make them more competitive?
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
Fares on the railway are so complicated that even the people who
sell them do not understand them. Some of them look absurdly
expensive; some are very cheap. It is very possible to sit in a
carriage where nearly everybody has paid a different fare for the
same journey. The passengers wholeheartedly dislike it. One of
the reasons for public ownership of the railways is to get
commercial sense back into a sensible fares and ticketing system,
which will attract passengers to the network.
(Con)
But, my Lords, does the Minister accept that, on some occasions,
it is necessary for the Government to appoint people without a
competitive process—as I did in the Minister's case when I
appointed him as the chairman of Network Rail? I expected him to
be solely the success that he was and to bring a political
neutrality, which we see today and which he carries well in his
present role.
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
Of course, I congratulate the noble Lord on his previous
appointment, which seemed to last nine years, so you might judge
it successful. I think that the present appointment will be
equally successful—somebody with an excellent transport
background who understands the politics and economics of large
conurbations and will make a real difference, improving the
railway in the short term before we get the substantive Bill in
the longer term.
(CB)
My Lords, I have a vivid recollection of how inefficient British
Rail was because, when I was at the Bar, I appeared against
British Rail people on a regular basis. Can the Minister and his
department check what British Rail got up to, and do something
completely different?
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
The British Railways Board was abolished in 1993. The way in
which the railway needs to work in future has to reflect the
significant devolution in the country since then. It is our
intention that the railway is run by people who are in control of
a significant part of it—what I would describe as the Network
Rail route, and a train company —including the track, the trains
and the staff, and that they deliver a decent service. That is
the intention in future.
of Pickering (Con)
My Lords, may I appeal to the softer, gentler, more apolitical
side of the Minister? Does he accept that it would be churlish
not to congratulate the previous Government on paying £9 billion
during Covid to keep all the trains running? Not one railway
worker lost their job.
of Richmond Hill (Lab)
I think everybody on the railway was extremely grateful for the
support the Government showed for the railway service at that
time. Nevertheless, the consequences of Covid have been that the
cost of the railway is almost the same but its revenue is
four-fifths of what it was. One of the objectives now is to
deliver better value and a better service, and the method of
management I have described will achieve that.
