Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Thirty-Eighth Report - Rail reform: The rail transformation programme
Public Accounts Committee
HC 652
Published 27 May 2024
Recommendations
2
Accepted
Develop a passenger-focused plan and resolve disincentives for sustainable rail subsidies.
Recommendation
There has been too little focus on passengers and taxpayers and how to get them a better deal. The Department claims that improving passenger experience is at the heart of its reform plans, but poor performance persists across the rail …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to delivering the Great British Railways (GBR) model within this parliamentary term, which it states will address disincentives and aims to improve passenger services and financial sustainability. Interim actions include using annual business planning, resolving the ASLEF dispute, and mobilising shadow GBR.
HM Treasury
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4
Accepted
Implement tangible rail reforms to improve passenger outcomes and deliver savings for taxpayers.
Recommendation
We are not convinced that the Department has paid sufficient attention, in advance of the delayed creation of Great British Railways, to the changes it can make now to improve the situation for passengers and taxpayers. The Department expected its …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states it has already implemented the recommendation by delivering various reforms including rolling out barcode ticketing, expanding contactless PAYG, piloting PAYG in new regions, setting a rail freight target, and launching a rail sale. It remains focused on delivering benefits ahead of GBR legislation.
HM Treasury
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5
Acknowledged
Urgently resolve fundamental disagreements with stakeholders on Great British Railways' role and commercial model.
Recommendation
Six years since the Department started work on rail reform, it has failed to resolve fundamental disagreements and clarify key aspects of reform. The Department acknowledges that, while its white paper set the broad direction and detail for some areas …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees to resolve disagreements regarding Great British Railways' role, function, and oversight to ensure financial sustainability, stating that further information on legislative plans will be provided as soon as practical.
HM Treasury
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6
Acknowledged
Meaningfully engage with the rail workforce to ensure successful implementation of sector reforms.
Recommendation
The Department has failed to engage with the workforce to successfully deliver its reform ambitions. Good policymaking relies on effective stakeholder engagement. The Williams Rail Review involved extensive consultation with trade unions and workers across the railway to understand their …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees to meaningfully engage with the workforce, citing a recent pay proposal to the ASLEF trade union, and reiterates its belief that partnership with workforce representatives is essential for reform.
HM Treasury
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14
Accepted
Inconsistent staff availability and inadequate rail infrastructure negatively impact diverse passenger groups.
Recommendation
We highlighted our concerns about the impact of the Department’s lack of progress in improving rail services and station infrastructure on various groups of people. For example, disabled passengers, as well as parents with young children, and even the many …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will continue to support the access for all programme, using accessibility audit data of rail stations to improve passenger information and target future investment decisions.
HM Treasury
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15
Accepted
Department's rail reform activity significantly reduced, focusing on short-term gains rather than comprehensive change.
Recommendation
The Department’s scale of activity compared to its initial reform programme is much reduced. Its focus is on three types of work: short-term benefits it can achieve without legislation; promoting greater collaboration and culture change within the rail sector; and …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and lists progress made prior to the 2024 General Election, including barcode ticketing and LNER initiatives, and says it is focused on delivering benefits for passengers and taxpayers ahead of legislation to establish GBR. It also mentions resolving the national pay dispute with ASLEF and mobilising shadow GBR.
HM Treasury
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17
Accepted
Department's focus on minor improvements overlooks passengers' primary concerns about reliability and punctuality.
Recommendation
We asked the Department what we can expect to see within the next six months that will make a difference and improve the passenger experience. The Department provided examples such as the Great British Rail sales, roll out and trialling …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and lists progress made prior to the 2024 General Election, including barcode ticketing and LNER initiatives, and says it is focused on delivering benefits for passengers and taxpayers ahead of legislation to establish GBR. It also mentions resolving the national pay dispute with ASLEF and mobilising shadow GBR.
HM Treasury
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19
Accepted
Significant disagreements persist between the Department and HM Treasury regarding GBR's remit and future commercial model.
Recommendation
We asked the Department about the challenges presented by not having agreement with HM Treasury from the outset of the programme about some of these aspects. The Department told us that the white paper had the collective agreement of ministers …
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Government Response Summary
The government will work closely with HM Treasury on defining the role, function and oversight of Great British Railways to ensure the railway is financially sustainable and will set out further information on plans for legislation as soon as is practical.
HM Treasury
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23
Accepted
Department's routine engagement with rail unions remains insufficient at official level.
Recommendation
Good policy is made through involving stakeholders. We asked about the Department’s engagement with the workforce and how it understands the practical realities and challenges facing those responsible for implementing policy on the ground. The Department told us that when …
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Government Response Summary
The government is resetting the relationship with the trade unions, has made a proposal to ASLEF, and believes that working in partnership with the workforce is essential for long-lasting reform.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (15)
3
Conclusion
Accepted
It is unacceptable that so much of the rail network remains so difficult to access for so many people. The Department committed to improving access to the rail 6 Rail reform: The rail transformation programme network and other modes of transport as part of its 2018 inclusive transport strategy and …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and commits to setting out next steps as soon as possible for improving rail accessibility, continuing the Access for All programme, and using accessibility audit data for all 2,575 stations to improve information and target future investment decisions.
1
Conclusion
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Transport (the Department) and Network Rail, in its capacity as lead for the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT), about rail reform.1
Government Response Summary
The government outlines its ongoing actions on rail reform, including introducing legislation to bring passenger services into public ownership, announcing further legislation to create Great British Railways, and preparing for the mobilisation of a shadow GBR.
7
Conclusion
Government and industry reviews of the railways over the past two decades have identified similar problems to the Williams review.11 We asked the Department why these reviews had failed to lead to improvements. It said that reviews have not always looked at the whole of the railway in its entirety …
8
Conclusion
Accepted
The rail sector’s performance for passengers and the taxpayer is not good enough and has not been for some time.13 The Office of Rail and Road reported 3.8% of trains were classified as cancelled in 2022–23, along with 86.3% of trains arriving at their final destination on time, meaning that …
Government Response Summary
The government states that train operators' performance is already monitored across a range of operational and service quality measures and that each operator is contractually required to set out their commitments to passengers, including arrangements for delay compensation.
9
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Delays to reform have added pressure to the Department’s finances and higher costs to the taxpayer for longer. The Department’s costs now exceed the revenue it receives and at a level that the Department views as unsustainable – the Department spent £3.1 billion subsidising train services in 2022–23.19 We asked …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees the level of funding and subsidy for the railway is not sustainable and says it needs to increase revenues and reduce costs. They are committed to delivering a unified and simplified governance structure for the railways, alongside passenger train services under public ownership, with the objective of providing improved services for passengers and better value for money for taxpayers.
10
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department told us that the pandemic presented a fundamental challenge to sustainably funding the railways and that the financial pressures have driven a stronger focus to look at the whole system and improve performance, both financially and for passengers.21 The pandemic also exposed the scale of challenge on costs. …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. They are committed to delivering a unified and simplified governance structure for the railways, alongside passenger train services under public ownership, with the objective of providing improved services for passengers and better value for money for taxpayers.
11
Conclusion
Accepted
Rail Partners highlighted to us the risk that the Department may look to cut passenger services to save costs which would make the railway less attractive for passengers, mean lower revenues flowing into HM Treasury, and add to cost pressures. It said that it is essential to reunite cost and …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation to reunite cost and revenue and is committed to delivering a unified and simplified governance structure for the railways, alongside passenger train services under public ownership. Implementation is targeted for Spring 2025.
12
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Improving accessibility runs throughout the Department’s reform ambitions and is one of the 62 commitments included in its White Paper: ‘The first robust national accessibility strategy and long-term investment programme will improve inclusion and access for all.’25 Even earlier than its White Paper commitment, the Department 18 Q 44 19 …
Government Response Summary
This conclusion references the Department's prior commitments to improving access. The government's response is the same as for IDs 7080 and 7081.
13
Conclusion
Not Addressed
We asked the Department about the passenger improvements it has made for disabled passengers and people who find accessibility an issue. The Department recognised that it needs to make sure the railway works for disabled passengers, and that accessibility is going to increase in importance with demographic changes. The Department …
Government Response Summary
This conclusion references a consultation on a national rail accessibility strategy and the example of Leagrave station. The government's response is the same as for IDs 7081 and 7079.
16
Conclusion
We asked the Department for clarity around how the new contracts would work. The Department told us that it is in the process of developing a further version of national rail contracts, designed to further encourage growth in revenue and passengers, and focus on the passenger experience. It said that …
18
Conclusion
The Department intended that Great British Railways (GBR) would act as the ‘guiding mind’ for the railways, with responsibility for the whole rail system.40 But the Department and HM Treasury disagreed on key areas of rail reform from the start, including GBR’s remit and level of independence, the extent to …
20
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked the Department for its views on the current commentary around GBR and the balance between it acting as a guiding or directing mind. The Department said it is important to find the right balance between the guiding mind who is guiding but also who is prepared to stand …
Government Response Summary
The government states its ambition is to set the long-term strategy and priorities for the railway, with Great British Railways (GBR) acting as a “directing mind” focused on improving the rail network and the passenger experience.
21
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Reviews by the IPA and the Department in early 2023 found that the Rail Transformation Board’s governance was confused, accountabilities unclear, and there was not agreement across stakeholders on the scope and delivery approach of the Programme. The Department recognises that there will be a challenge in getting stakeholders to …
Government Response Summary
The department is preparing for the mobilisation of shadow GBR which will facilitate closer working between the senior leaders of Rail Services Group (RSG) in Department for Transport, Department for Transport Operator of Last Resort Holdings Limited (DOHL) and Network Rail (NR) to drive improvements. The IPA will provide assurance of the rail sector transformation programme delivery plan.
22
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department agreed with HM Treasury that it would deliver £2.6 billion in savings from rail reform by 2024–25, with most savings expected to come from workforce reform plans including modernising ways of working within train stations, improving control and deployment of drivers, and reductions in staff numbers.47 The Department …
Government Response Summary
The government is resetting the relationship with the trade unions as part of its overall approach to reforming the railways and has recently made a proposal to the ASLEF trade union to settle the existing national pay dispute.
24
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Network Rail told us about its good, constructive relationships with trade unions which have allowed it to achieve workforce efficiency and productivity savings of around £775 million.53 They provided examples of headcount reductions from losing around 2,500 managers, work reductions whereby technology means they no longer use people for certain …
Government Response Summary
The Committee notes Network Rail's good relationship with unions and associated savings.