Member

On Amendment 292 and the question that Clause 75 stand part of the Bill, the Government do not support this because it would create a situation in which public funds would be recycled around government. GBR will be a publicly owned company funded by the taxpayer and therefore it is right that the ORR’s licensing enforcement process should not include the ability to fine GBR. All that fining would do in this situation would be to create a complex and administratively challenging money-go-round. Indeed, it would return railway funds to His Majesty’s Treasury, leading to less being spent on the railway. This is not the situation that the noble Lord described of suing the NHS. It is a practical measure to retain money in the railway.