Opinion
As MPs return to Westminster from a summer of constituency duties, Jay Turner looks at to what’s in store in the months ahead
Westminster D
avid Cameron had been due to carry out a junior ministerial reshuffle in July but decided to postpone until the autumn in an effort to maintain the calm atmosphere within the party going into the recess period. In the confusion, Junior Transport Minister Norman Baker was rumoured to have prematurely had his CD collection cleared out from his office in Great Minster House. Cameron is likely to use the autumn reshuffle to promote more women into valued party roles and if Baker is moved we could see a female face back in the ministerial team at DfT, with Transport Whip Nicky Morgan being touted for promotion to the role.
Party conferences
During the Labour party conference in late September, Shadow Transport Secretary, Maria Eagle MP, will outline various aspects of Labour’s new thinking on rail policy. The shadow team hope to implement an affordability agenda based around capping annual rail fare rises, reforming ticketing, offering a legal right to the cheapest ticket and peak time regulation. Labour is also planning to end the separate role for the Rail Delivery Group, HS2 Ltd and DOR by bringing them together with a reformed Network Rail. The intention to create an integrated 10-year transport plan will be confirmed as well as support for further devolution of decision-making on rail to the regions.
Re-franchising
The programme of staggering franchise start dates by using a mixture of extensions and direct award contracts will continue after the summer. First Great Western has submitted its bid to extend its current contract by more than two years following a request by the government. The current franchise ends in October and while First and the DfT should be able to agree the terms of the direct award, Directly Operated Railways (DOR) will step in if no agreement can be reached. An updated ITT for the Essex Thameside (ET) franchise was due in July but has been delayed and the government is still aiming to award the contract by April 2014. The Thameslink, Southern, and Great Northern ITT is due to follow
September 2013 Page 37
ET with a contract signed by May 2014. North of the border, the current ScotRail franchise agreement is due to expire on 31 March 2015 and Transport Scotland has decided to separate the Sleeper operation from the remainder of the ScotRail services. The main ScotRail franchise will be a 10 year contract and in July, Transport Scotland issued the OJEU requesting bidders to complete the PQQ. A draft ITT will go out to consultation in November with the ITT due to be issued in January 2014 and the winning bidder notified in October 2014. The separate Sleeper franchise will last for up to 15 years. The ITT will be issued to pre-qualified bidders Serco,
Arriva and FirstGroup this autumn with responses due by December and a winner announced next summer. Both franchises are expected to start in April 2015. Bidders for the main franchise are expected to include the incumbent, FirstGroup, as well as Arriva, Serco, Virgin, Abellio and National Express. In a sign of intent, Dean Finch at NatEx has recruited former ScotRail MD Mary Grant to his bidding team, nine years after she led FirstGroup’s successful bid. Grant will focus on the franchise bid when a three-year departure agreement with First expires next spring. The re-franchising of the East Coast Mainline is rapidly turning into the dreaded political football and Labour’s
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