Member

Amendment 89, tabled by my noble friend Lord Berkeley is also about financial transparency. I am pleased to offer him reassurances that this information is already available or that there are proportionate arrangements in place to assure that it will become available. The Bill’s impact assessment sets out the estimated cost savings when establishing GBR and estimates that rail reform will generate more than £1 billion-worth of savings and efficiencies by the end of this debate. On costs incurred, I assure my noble friend that GBR’s forecast cost of operation will be contained within its published business plan. The Bill ensures this and requires that GBR’s plan covers all its planned activities in the five-year funding period. Revenue will also be included in the business plan as it is part of the requirement in the Bill for GBR to set out how it proposes to meet its costs. Naturally, some commercially sensitive information is likely to be redacted, as any business would do, but otherwise the Bill achieves what this amendment proposes.