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Transport (Wales) Bill

My Lords, as I said at the beginning of the debate, any idea that comes up during the course of the evening will be carefully considered, and we have made a note of that one. My noble friend Lord Jones asked about passenger rail services to Deeside industrial park. The Assembly is in discussion with the north Wales local authority consortia on rail services in north-east Wales and is awaiting the outcome of a detailed study. The noble Lord also makes the point, which we totally agree with, that the development of air services within Wales is an extremely good idea. My noble friend Lord Rowlands asked whether the powers in the Railways Act 2005 were the same in Scotland as in Wales, in relation to the franchise and funding. The brief answer to that is no, they are not the same. The Welsh rail network is much more closely integrated with the network in England than is the case for Scotland. The arrangements will enable the Assembly to achieve its objectives by allowing it to determine the pattern of rail services in Wales for the first time. The Assembly will also be able to ensure that its requirements are met in terms of developing the network. Crucially, my noble friend Lord Rowlands asked about the transfer of funding from the Department to the Assembly for Wales, and the border franchise. Yes, a transfer is under discussion between my right honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Transport, and the Assembly. It will represent the agreed current cost of rail services for which the Assembly takes responsibility—for example, excluding the few England-only services. As far as the timescale is concerned, the aim is to reach agreement to enable the transfer in the 2006–07 supply estimates. The annual amount of £120 million plus was announced in 2003, when the ATW franchise was agreed uplisted by inflationary indices. My noble friend Lord Anderson asked a very important question—which I will not attempt to answer now—on the comparison of relevant powers over transport between the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly. As I said at the beginning, to answer that in detail would prolong this debate, if not into the small hours, much later than we are all prepared to go. I will write to him.