Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)

What I would say to the noble Lord about all these things is that we are setting this organisation up and, conventionally, it is the chair and the board that support, hire and fire the chief executive. I do not believe that his amendment is the right way of doing this. It should be done through the chair and the board, and the expectations of the Secretary of State should be conveyed to them. Whatever action might be necessary regarding the chief executive should be taken as a consequence of that relationship. On Amendment 83, the Bill already does what the noble Lord is trying to achieve. Much of the substance of this amendment is already enabled by the process created by Schedule 2. GBR is already required to produce a business plan containing all its activity and how its costs will be met, which will be reviewed annually, as we have discussed, to ensure it is up to date. The plan will be published, which will allow Parliament and the public to hold GBR to account. The ORR will monitor GBR’s delivery of its business plan. I agree with the noble Lord that transparency is important, but we do not need to hardwire in excessive bureaucracy, as this amendment would. On Amendments 59, 60, 62 and 64A, I can understand the desire to codify the contents of the statement of objectives, but this legislation needs to be drafted to last as long as the last Railways Act has and therefore needs to be open to future Governments to suggest their own objectives for the funding period. The Bill provides a suggested list of what could be included, setting a strong precedent for future government but leaving options open for Secretaries of State. This is a tried and tested method, being the same approach that underpins the periodic review of funding today. The periodic review is widely considered one of the most successful parts of the current regime, which is why the Bill replicates the five-year length of it. Similarly, the statement has to be capable of accommodating different approaches based on wider environmental and socioeconomic circumstances. That is why the current list of potential topics to be covered by the statement serves as a guide for future drafters but does not constrain the Government.