Thursday Volume 572 19 December 2013 No. 97 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 19 December 2013 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2013 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 869 19 DECEMBER 2013 870 Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con): It House of Commons would be churlish not to wish you a merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. Thursday 19 December 2013 Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the management and the work force of East Coast Mainline on their achievements? The House met at half-past Nine o’clock Has he any information on journeys lost or delayed since the ratio of diesel to electric trains has changed? PRAYERS Mr McLoughlin: Off the top of my head, I am afraid I do not have that specific fact and figure, but I will [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] certainly write to my hon. Friend. I would like to thank everyone, not just on the east coast main line but on all the other train services, who are doing everything they can over the seasonal period to make sure people get to Oral Answers to Questions their destinations. Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab): Does the Secretary of State not realise that the staff and management of TRANSPORT East Coast rescued that service after a second private sector franchise collapsed? They are concerned that their job security at the headquarters at York is being The Secretary of State was asked— put at risk again, so will the Secretary of State come to East Coast Mainline Company Ltd York with me to meet the staff to explain his plans? Mr McLoughlin: I have used East Coast trains on a 1. Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab): What number of occasions and have talked to the staff operating assessment he has made of the recent performance of the service. The hon. Gentleman should just wait and East Coast Mainline Company Ltd [901718] see which companies come forward, and he may find he gets a much enhanced service over the coming years—and The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick I very much hope he will do so. McLoughlin): My officials meet with East Coast and Directly Operated Railways on a regular basis to discuss the performance of the franchise. DOR’s financial accounts Mary Creagh (Wakefield) (Lab): May I also wish you are published on its website on an annual basis. the compliments of the season, Mr Speaker, and thank all the staff of the House for keeping us safe throughout Grahame M. Morris: As this is the last Question the year? Time before Christmas, I would like to take this opportunity People struggling with the Government’s cost of living to wish you, Mr Speaker, and the Secretary of State and crisis are carefully planning their budgets for Christmas his team, a merry Christmas. and next year. They need and deserve to know how I declare an interest: I am a member of the RMT much their season tickets will cost from 2 January. Why parliamentary group—unremunerated. The Secretary is East Coast the only train company to have published of State will be aware that the East Coast service has its fare increases for next year? delivered record levels of passenger satisfaction, returned £800 million to the taxpayer and seen almost half of Mr McLoughlin: The hon. Lady might just have fares frozen, due in no small part to the staff, who have welcomed the fact that for the first time in 10 years we worked so hard. The best Christmas present for them have got rid of above-inflation rail ticket price increases. would be to cancel the privatisation. Will the Secretary I would have thought that she might have welcomed of State meet me and a small delegation to listen to that, because I am very proud that for the first time in their concerns about the application of TUPE regulations 10 years this coalition Government have held rail fare if the sell-off goes ahead? increases down in line with the retail prices index. Mr McLoughlin: Either myself or the Under-Secretary, Mary Creagh: The right hon. Gentleman talks about my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Stephen the autumn statement but it is his decision not to Hammond), will be delighted to meet the hon. Gentleman remove the “flex” on fares, which means some commuter and some of his colleagues, but I just point out to him, tickets could still rise by 5.1% next year. In 13 days as I have done frequently, that the last Labour Secretary people will buy their annual season tickets, yet they of State for Transport said: have no idea how much they will cost. That is completely “I do not believe that it would be in the public interest for us to unacceptable. Is not the example set by East Coast have a nationalised train operating company indefinitely…because another reason that it should be kept as a public sector of our recent experience of rail franchising”.—[Official Report, comparator? House of Lords, 1 July 2009; Vol. 712, c. 232.] Those recent improvements in rail franchising have Mr McLoughlin: The simple fact is that the reduction resulted in passenger journey numbers in this country in rail fares announced by my right hon. Friend the going up from 750 million to 1.5 billion and people Chancellor in the autumn statement has been widely using our railways a lot more, with a huge amount of welcomed by various organisations including Transport investment guaranteed by this Government. 2000, and I am very proud that we have managed to do 871 Oral Answers19 DECEMBER 2013 Oral Answers 872 something. The hon. Lady mentions the “flex”. We pressure on East Midlands Trains to reintroduce a have reduced the extent to which the “flex” can be half-hourly service going north from Kettering on that exercised, which the last Government never did. line? Railway Branch Lines Stephen Hammond: I have listened carefully to what my hon. Friend has said. He will obviously want to 2. Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con): What recognise the huge amount of investment that is going steps he is taking to invest in local railway branch lines. into the railway network, including £70 million around [901720] Kettering. I will look closely at his request in the context of the franchise renegotiations. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond): It is for local authorities, working Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab): A lot of work has been with local enterprise partnerships, to determine whether done locally to assess the possibility of reopening the investment in a local branch line is the best way to meet Halton curve, which would improve the links between local transport needs. Local enterprise partnerships have Merseyside and Liverpool and all the way down to been invited to bid for the local growth fund, and we Shropshire, as well as across to north Wales. Will the encourage them to bid for funds to invest in transport Minister do all he can to expedite that project, which schemes. would benefit Merseyside, Cheshire and Wales? Charlotte Leslie: The Minister knows that I have long Stephen Hammond: Again, I am sure that the hon. campaigned to reopen the Henbury loop line. There are Gentleman will recognise the huge amount of investment advanced plans for a large stadium development as well that is going into the railways under this Government. as significant housing in the area that the Henbury loop We recognise the benefit of that. It is for Network Rail would serve. Does the Minister not think that such large to prioritise these matters, along with the local train infrastructure projects could have a massively positive operators and the local authorities. Should he want to impact on the business case for such a line? write to me about this particular scheme, I would be happy to look into it in more detail. Stephen Hammond: I am well aware of my hon. Friend’s long-standing campaign. She would not expect High Speed 2 me to comment on a specific scheme, but stadium developments such as those are exactly the sort of thing 3. Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) that local enterprise partnerships and local authorities (Con): What assessment he has made of the most will want to look at. I met representatives of the West of recent estimate of the costs to the public purse of High England LEP on 22 November, and I am aware of Speed 2. [901721] phase 2 of its MetroWest scheme. It has been allocated £44.9 million for improvements in the six-year period to The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick 2021. McLoughlin): The most recent cost estimate for both phases of the project is £42.6 billion and £7.5 billion for Mr Jack Straw (Blackburn) (Lab): May I draw to the rolling stock. This includes a contingency of £14.4 billion Minister’s attention the bizarre situation that has arisen for construction costs and £1.7 billion for rolling stock. in respect of the Todmorden curve in east Lancashire? The project currently assumes that the cost of HS2 is to After years of campaigning, work on the curve has been be funded by the public purse. However, my Department completed at a cost of £8 million, and we all welcome is exploring the scope to draw in third-party funding to that.