Mr Stephen Byers (Matter Referred on 19 October 2005)
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House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) Sixth Report of Session 2005–06 HC 854 House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) Sixth Report of Session 2005–06 Report and Appendices, together with formal minutes and oral evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 30 January 2006 HC 854 Published on 31 January 2006 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 Committee on Standards and Privileges The Committee on Standards and Privileges is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards; to examine the arrangements proposed by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the House; to review from time to time the form and content of those registers; to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner; to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches in the Code of Conduct which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention by the Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to the Code of Conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary. Current membership Rt Hon Sir George Young Bt MP (Conservative, North West Hampshire) (Chairman) Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP (Labour, Rother Valley) Angela Browning MP (Conservative, Tiverton and Honiton) Rt Hon David Curry (Conservative, Skipton & Ripon) Mr Andrew Dismore MP (Labour, Hendon) Nick Harvey MP (Liberal Democrat, North Devon) Mr Brian Jenkins MP (Labour, Tamworth) Mr Elfyn Llwyd MP (Plaid Cymru, Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) Mr Chris Mullin MP (Labour, Sunderland South) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test) Powers The constitution and powers of the Committee are set out in Standing Order No. 149. In particular, the Committee has power to order the attendance of any Member of Parliament before the committee and to require that specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of the Commissioner, be laid before the Committee. The Committee has power to refuse to allow its public proceedings to be broadcast. The Law Officers, if they are Members of Parliament, may attend and take part in the Committee’s proceedings, but may not vote. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at: www.parliament.uk/sandp. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Dr Christopher Ward (Clerk), Ms Libby Preston (Second Clerk) and Michelle Owens (Secretary). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615. Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) 1 Contents Report Page Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) 3 I. Introduction 3 II. Background to the Referral 4 III. Government work on possible alternatives to Railtrack plc 5 Before the 2001 General Election 5 After the 2001 General Election 6 IV. The Issues 8 Introduction 8 The Case against Mr Byers 9 Mr Byers’ Explanation 11 Checking of the transcript 13 Conclusions and Recommendations 14 Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Clerk of the House [Byers.5] 18 Appendix 2: Memorandum from Mr Alan Duncan MP [Byers.6] 24 Appendix 3: Memorandum from Mrs Gwyneth Dunwoody MP [Byers.7] 29 Appendix 4: Memorandum from Chris Grayling MP [Byers.8] 31 Appendix 5: Memoranda from Mr Stephen Byers MP 33 Submission to the Committee on Standards and Privileges [Byers.9] 33 Letter to the Chairman of the Committee from Mr Stephen Byers MP, 18 January 2006 [Byers.29] 36 Appendix 6: Memorandum from Tom Winsor [Byers.23] 38 Appendix 7: Memoranda from the Department for Transport 44 1. Letter to the Clerk from the Department for Transport, 7 November 2005 [Byers.11] 44 2. Memorandum from the Department for Transport to the Committee on Standards and Privileges, 7 November 2005 [Byers.11] 46 3. Chronology of submissions and events relating to options for Railtrack 7 June to 25 July 2001 48 4. Letter to the Department for Transport from the Clerk, 17 November 2005 [Byers.14] 49 5. Letter to the Clerk from the Department for Transport, 23 November 2005 [Byers.13] 50 6. Letter to the Clerk from the Department for Transport, 25 November 2005 [Byers.16] 53 7. Letter to the Clerk from the Department for Transport, 2 December 2005 [Byers.20] 53 2 Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) 8. Letter to the Clerk from David Rowlands, Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport, 5 December 2005 [Byers.24] 54 9. Letter to the Chairman from David Rowlands, Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport, 9 December 2005 [Byers.25] 54 10. Letter to the Clerk from the Department for Transport, 13 December 2005 [Byers.26] 55 11. Letter to the Clerk from the Department for Transport, 9 January 2006 [Byers.27] 56 12. Letter to the Clerk from David Rowlands CB, Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport, 19 January 2006 [Byers.30] 58 Witnesses 60 Unpublished memoranda 61 Formal minutes 68 Reports from the Committee on Standards and Privileges in the current Parliament 70 Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) 3 Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) I. Introduction 1. On 19 October 2005, the House referred to us the matter of “the evidence given by the Rt Hon Member for North Tyneside [Mr Stephen Byers] to the Transport Sub-Committee of the Select Committee on Transport, Local Government and the Regions1 on 14th November 2001”.2 The Sub-Committee was inquiring into the implications for rail services of the Government’s then recently issued draft policy statement on passenger rail franchising and the draft directions and guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority.3 However, following the placing of Railtrack plc into railway administration, the scope of the Sub-Committee’s inquiry was extended to include the impact of this on the Government’s franchising policy, and a range of issues relating to Railtrack’s successor.4 2. At our first meeting after the referral of this matter, on 25 October 2005, Mr Alan Whitehead declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to the matter referred to us in that, at the material time, he had been a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, but with no direct responsibilities in relation to transport matters. All those giving oral evidence to us were made aware of this declaration. 3. On 16 January 2006, after we had completed taking oral evidence, Mr David Curry and Mr Chris Mullin were appointed to the Committee. They have decided to play no part in our consideration of this report in view of the late stage at which they have come to the inquiry. 4. We have taken oral evidence5 in this inquiry on four occasions: from Chris Grayling, who had moved the motion to refer the matter to us; Mr David Rowlands CB, now Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, but at the time the Department’s senior official on railway matters; Mr Dan Corry, then a Special Adviser to Mr Byers; and from Mr Byers himself. We are grateful to all the witnesses for their evidence. 5. We have also received a considerable amount of written evidence, much of which we have published. A number of submissions included documents that had also been included in the trial bundles in the case of Weir and Others v The Secretary of State for Transport and Others.6 Following judgement in this case, given on 14 October 2005, the Department made available for public inspection all the documents that comprised the trial bundles.7 1 Referred to hereafter as “the Transport Sub-Committee”. 2 See Official Report, 19 October 2005, Vol. 437, col. 848-50. 3 Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee, Press Notice No. 3 of Session 2001-02 (23 July 2001). 4 Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee, Press Notice No. 8 of Session 2001-02 (18 October 2001). 5 This evidence was taken in private, but is published in full with this report. 6 [2005] EWHC 2192 (Ch.). Referred to hereafter as “the Railtrack case”. 7 Appendix 7, p. 45. 4 Mr Stephen Byers (Matter referred on 19 October 2005) As these are already in the public domain, we have not printed any such documents with this report, but have arranged for those submitted to us to be publicly available in the Record Office in accordance with the usual Select Committee practice.8 II. Background to the Referral 6. On 25 July 2001, Mr John Robinson, Chairman of Railtrack Group plc9, the publicly quoted parent company of Railtrack plc, met Mr Byers. According to the Department10, this meeting was at Mr Robinson’s request. The meeting was not fully minuted, but the Government side recalled that, in an unminuted part, Mr Robinson said that he anticipated difficulties11 when the company released its interim figures in November 2001 over stating that it remained a ‘going concern’.