Member

54: After Clause 12, insert the following new Clause— “Protection of rail funding settlements(1) This section applies where the Secretary of State proposes to make a material change affecting an agreed multi-year funding settlement for the railway (“the settlement”), whether by—(a) reducing the funding provided under the settlement,(b) altering the outputs, or the scope of works, specified under the settlement, or(c) making any other decision, whether or not framed as a change to the settlement, which materially affects the cost or deliverability of the outputs agreed under it.(2) Where subsection (1) applies, the Secretary of State must refer the proposed change to the Office of Rail and Road before it takes effect.(3) Where the proposed change would reduce funding available under the settlement, Great British Railways must set out how the reduction would be accommodated, including which works would be deferred, which activities reduced, and in what sequence.(4) The Office of Rail and Road must assess and publish a report on the proposed change. The report must include— (a) an assessment of the effect on—(i) delivery of the outputs agreed under the settlement,(ii) the supply chain and the skills required to deliver the programme, and(iii) whole-life cost and asset condition,(b) any statement provided by Great British Railways under subsection (3).(5) Where Great British Railways has given the Secretary of State advice on the proposed change, that advice must be published alongside the report under subsection (4).(6) A proposed change to which subsection (1) applies may not take effect until the report under subsection (4) has been published.(7) The function of the Office of Rail and Road under this section is limited to assessment and publication; it does not include determining where reductions should fall, directing the activities of Great British Railways, or the structure or content of the timetable.(8) Nothing in this section prevents the Secretary of State from making a change to a settlement; this section requires only that the change be assessed and published before it takes effect.”Member’s explanatory statement This amendment would require the Secretary of State to refer any material change to an agreed rail funding settlement to the Office of Rail and Road for independent assessment, and to publish that assessment, together with any advice given by Great British Railways, before the change takes effect.