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Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Wednesday, 4 December 2013.

Railways: Rolling Stock

Question

My noble friend may have seen the letter written at the end of November by his right honourable friend the Secretary of State, which refers to Rail North—that includes the Northern Rail and First TransPennine Express TOCs—having devolved responsibility for the procurement of rolling stock. This has been announced with great guns in the north, where it is desperately needed. However, the letter also refers to the DfT,

“taking a significant role within an initial partnership structure”.

That statement is further qualified towards the end of the letter with the words:

“DfT will run those franchise competitions to a common timetable, working closely with Rail North”.

Are we to understand that this is devolving responsibility to the regions, or is it yet another way in which the department is actually accreting more responsibility to itself?

Answer

The noble Lord asks an important and interesting question. The Government remain supportive of the principle of devolution in the north of England. We have agreed with Rail North leaders an initial partnership structure to take forward devolved decision-making across the north of England to help manage the risk associated with a project of this scale. Rail North and the department’s officials are developing further details of the partnership for presentation to the Secretary of State and the Rail North local authorities early in the new year. Proposals to decentralise transport powers will assist in building a rebalanced economy away from reliance on the City of London.

Secondary information

Type
Oral question
Reference
750 c234 
Session
2013-14
Oral question type
1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Procurement Railways Rolling stock North East North West Yorkshire and the Humber
Link
View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk