Source · Select Committees · Welsh Affairs Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 75
While we welcome the positive working relationship between the Welsh and UK governments on rail...
Recommendation
While we welcome the positive working relationship between the Welsh and UK governments on rail infrastructure projects, we are concerned that the UK Government’s Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) is too slow and hampers, rather than helps, the evaluation of infrastructure proposals. In response to this report we recommend that the UK Government should set out its plans to reform RNEP with a view to accelerating the delivery of projects in Wales.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response, identical to the previous one, details plans to establish new governance boards to develop and deliver rail enhancements, but does not explicitly set out plans to reform the RNEP process itself.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
75
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The UK Government notes this recommendation. The RNEP is the framework by which the rail enhancements budget, set through fiscal events is spent efficiently and on projects that support UK government’s strategic objectives. It was first published in March 2018 and provides a rolling programme of investment in the railway to ensure a steady stream of benefits to the railway’s supply chain, its customers (both passenger and freight) and taxpayers. We do not accept that it hampers the evaluation or successful delivery of infrastructure proposals. RNEP funding for individual projects and programmes is released incrementally; enhancements are not provided with full funding for delivery at inception but rather the project team is provided with funding for the next stage of development up until the next business case decision point. In this way, we ensure that we retain appropriate control over funding and that it is spent properly on the right projects. The RNEP incorporates a joint governance structure with Network Rail. Investment decisions are retained with Ministers, but the joint governance ensures that projects are assessed for affordability and deliverability before they are committed to. The joint governance also manages change to projects in life to ensure that the portfolio as a whole remains affordable and deliverable. The UK Government is always looking to improve systems and processes to make them more efficient. The RNEP is no different and despite RNEP’s success, we are working jointly with Network Rail on our ambitious SPEED (Swift, Pragmatic, Efficient Enhancements Delivery) programme which aims to halve the time and reduce the cost of rail infrastructure projects. Rail SPEED is about industry and Government working together to identify opportunities to significantly reduce the time and cost of building the railway. This includes work on areas such as procurement, planning approval, governance, timetabling, workforce capability and culture. Rail SPEED is now being applied across all rail infrastructure including in Wales to improve how we deliver projects. This aligns closely with the wider cross-Government Project Speed vision to deliver projects ‘better, greener, and faster”, which is being embedded in our processes.
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