Contributions
1,335 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDRailways Bill (First sitting)Q Thank you for coming. Broadly speaking, we are talking about governance and accountability in this session. I am going to dive straight in, Mr Larkinson. On the appeals process…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (First sitting)Q That answer was about the powers you have once an appeal comes to you, but my question was on what kinds of appeal can get in front of you in the first place. Going back to the…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (First sitting)Q I do not mean to confuse you; I seek to clarify whether an appeal on judicial review principles means that someone who is unhappy with a decision cannot have that decision…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (First sitting)Q You agree that it is very, very narrow. John Larkinson: Absolutely, yes.20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (First sitting)Q If someone goes through the appeals process on that very, very narrow front and is successful in their appeal, the ORR can order only two things to happen. The first is that the…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q 67 Thank you for attending to give oral evidence. Maggie Simpson, we heard from the chief executive of the Office of Rail and Road this morning that the appeals process is very…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Moving on to access decisions and charging, on your reading of the Bill, does the ORR have enough power to hold GBR to account? If your answer, as I suspect it might be, is that…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Thank you. Mr Thomas, in your view, under the Bill, will the railways be regulated in a fair and non-discriminatory manner? I am talking about the relationship between open…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Mr Montgomery, will you say whether you agree with that position, as well as answering this final question? In areas of capacity and access, the Bill anticipates the Secretary…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Thank you both for attending to give oral evidence. This section is about independent rail retailers. I am going to start with what the Competition and Markets Authority said…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Other witnesses have strongly argued for an express duty on the face of the Bill that GBR should be fair and non-discriminatory in its approach. Would you agree that that would…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q In other similar organisations, such as SNCF in France, the decision was taken to recognise the structural conflict of interest, and set up the retail arm of SNCF as a…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Would you accept that the Committee is flying blind substantially on a lot of this, because we do not have the MOUs or a lot of the information that is core to the successful…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q I am grateful that we got a little more time to explore that. At the moment, we are in control period 7, so that takes us— Darren Caplan: To 2029.20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Thank you both for coming to give evidence. I will be fairly brief—I always say that, but never am. Mr Reeve, I will start with clause 8, which is on the potential powers for…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q A recurring theme of this evidence today is the saga of the missing memorandum of understanding and/or draft licences. We have not seen 19 and counting documents that will form…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q Okay, but nothing yet. Let us move on to clause 10, which gives the Scottish Ministers power of guidance over GBR. Some people have expressed concern that there could be so much…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q It is interesting that you indicate that the guidance is a last resort, not a first resort. It does not say that on the face of the Bill. Do you think it should? Bill Reeve: I…20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q I am going to cut you short. You say absolutely. What about the other two? Rob Morris: That is absolutely correct. Malcolm Brown: It is fundamental economics.20 Jan 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Second sitting)Q I turn to Mr McDonald. It is very different in Wales. The vast majority of the Welsh railway crosses the border with England, as opposed to Scotland, where there is more of a…20 Jan 2026