NOTICES OF AMENDMENTS
given up to and including
Tuesday 25th January 2005
New Amendments handed in are marked thus *
CONSIDERATION OF BILL
RAILWAYS BILL, AS AMENDED
NEW CLAUSES
Provision of first class passenger accommodation
Mr Greg Knight
Mr Mark Field
Mr Christopher Chope
NC1
To move the following Clause:—
'Any proposal to withdraw first class passenger accommodation from an existing service shall be deemed to be a proposal to discontinue a service under Part 4 of this Act.'.
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Mr Greg Knight
Mr Christopher Chope
Mr Mark Field
Mr David Wilshire
NC2
To move the following Clause:—
'From 1st January 2006, Network Rail shall be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.'.
Railway functions of Passenger Transport Executives in Scotland
Mr Ian Davidson
NC3
To move the following Clause:—
(1) Before—
| (a) | issuing an invitation to tender for a franchise agreement in a case in which the services to be provided under the agreement are or include services in which a Passenger Transport Executive for an area in Scotland have an interest, or |
| (b) | entering into a franchise agreement in respect of such services in a case in which no such invitation has been issued, the Scottish Minister must consult the Executive for that area. |
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the services in which a Passenger Transport Executive has an interest are—
| (a) | services for the carriage of passengers by railway within the passenger transport area of that Executive; and |
| (b) | services which are not such services but are services for the carriage of passengers by railway to or from such an area. |
(3) A Passenger Transport Executive for a passenger transport area in Scotland and the Scottish Minister may enter into arrangements under which one or both of the following occurs—
| (a) | sums become due from the Executive to the Scottish Minister in respect of services for the carriage of passengers by railway within that area or in respect of station services or bus substitution services provided within that area; and |
| (b) | the Scottish Minister undertakes to exercise or perform his powers and duties in relation to or in connection with such services in a particular way. |
(4) A Passenger Transport Executive for a passenger transport area in Scotland may enter into agreements for purposes relating to or connected with the provision, by a person who is a franchisee or franchise operator in relation to a franchise agreement, of—
| (a) | services for the carriage of passengers by railway within that area; and |
| (b) | station services provided for purposes connected with any such services. |
(5) A Passenger Transport Executive for a passenger transport area in Scotland may not enter into an agreement (whether by virtue of subsection (4) or otherwise)—
| (a) | with a person who is a franchisee or franchise operator in relation to a franchise agreement, or |
| (b) | with a person who is proposing to become such a franchisee or franchise operator, unless the agreement is approved by the Scottish Minister. |
(6) The Scottish Minister may—
| (a) | give a general approval for the purposes of subsection (5) in relation to a description of agreements, as well as specific approvals for particular agreements; and |
| (b) | withdraw his approval in relation to any agreement at any time before the agreement is entered into. |
(7) The agreements to which a Passenger Transport Executive for a passenger transport area in Scotland may become a party with the approval of the Scottish Minister include franchise agreements under which services are provided which are or include services for the carriage of passengers by railway within that area.
(8) The Scottish Minister and the Passenger Transport Executive for a passenger transport area in Scotland must each provide to the other any information which—
| (a) | the other reasonably requires for purposes connected with his or their functions in relation to railways or railway services; and |
| (b) | is information which it would have been lawful for him or (as the case may be) them to disclose apart from this subsection. |
(9) In this section—
| (a) | a reference to a service for the carriage of passengers by railway within a passenger transport area is a reference to a service for the carriage of passengers by railway between places in that area or between places in that area and places outside it which are within the permitted distance; |
| (b) | a reference to station services provided within such an area is a reference to station services provided in connection with any such service for the carriage of passengers by railway; and |
| (c) | a reference to a bus substitution service provided within such an area is a reference to a bus substitution service for the carriage of passengers between places in that area or between places in that area and places outside it which are within the permitted distance; and in this subsection "the permitted distance" has the same meaning as in section 10(1)(ii) of the Transport Act 1968 (c. 73) (25 miles).'. |
Railway strategy
John Thurso
Dr John Pugh
NC4
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) The Secretary of State shall formulate and keep under review strategies for the railway including—
| (a) | the resources available for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the service of the passenger railway in England and Wales, including investment plans; |
| (b) | the resources available for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the services of the freight railway in England and Wales, including investment plans; |
| (c) | a signalling and telecommunications strategy; |
| (d) | a rolling stock strategy; |
| (e) | a strategy relating to the shape, duration and other criteria for letting franchises for the passenger railway; and |
| (f) | a strategy relating to passenger services designated as community railways including plans for their maintenance, development and possible closure or substitution of any part of these by buses. |
(2) To fulfil best the duties of the Secretary of State set out in section 4 of the 1993 Act these strategies shall be subject to public consultation and shall be presented to both Houses of Parliament before the end of the session after that in which this Bill received the Royal Assent and must be subject to a resolution of both Houses.
(3) The strategies will be subject to an annual update and similar approval.'.
Mr Greg Knight
Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Christopher Chope
Mr Mark Field
Mr David Wilshire
NC5
To move the following Clause:—
'The Secretary of State shall publish annually a Rail Efficiency Report containing his assessment of the performance and cost effectiveness of Network Rail during the twelve months previous and in particular he shall provide comparisons of such performance data with other comparable rail companies operating partly or wholly in the European Union.'
Mr Greg Knight
Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Christopher Chope
Mr Mark Field
Mr David Wilshire
NC6
To move the following Clause:—
'The Secretary of State shall every three years lay before each House of Parliament a register of all assets including land and property owned by Network Rail which are redundant to railway use or which have not been used for railway purposes during the preceding eighteen months together with a statement of intent regarding their future use or disposal.'.
Biodiversity duty
Mr Elfyn Llwyd
Mr Simon Thomas
Hywel Williams
Adam Price
NC7
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) In carrying out his duties under this Act, the Secretary of State shall be under a duty to further the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity on land owned by Network Rail and any successor organisations.
(2) In complying with the provisions of subsection (1), the Secretary of State shall have regard to—
| (a) | strategic documents concerning biodiversity published by the Secretary of State, the Scottish Parliament, or the National Assembly for Wales, as amended from time to time; and |
| (b) | the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992, as amended from time to time. |
(3) In complying with his duties under this section, the Secretary of State shall provide guidance to Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) concerning the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity.'.
Setting of targets
Mr Elfyn Llwyd
Mr Simon Thomas
Hywel Williams
Adam Price
NC8
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) The strategy referred to in section 3 of this Act shall make provision for the setting by the Secretary of State of targets applying to the railway system in the whole of the United Kingdom including but not limited to those listed in subsection (2).
(2) The targets listed are—
| (a) | the rate and direction of change in passenger-miles travelled per year; and |
| (b) | the rate and directions of change in total freight moved per year. |
(3) In drawing up the targets referred to in subsection (1), the Secretary of State shall have regard to—
| (a) | the railway strategy referred to in section 3; |
| (b) | the railway strategy for Scotland referred to in section 5; |
| (c) | any other strategy with similar scope applying to Wales, Northern Ireland, or any other part of the United Kingdom; and |
| (d) | any Government strategy or targets concerning climate change or carbon dioxide emissions applying to the whole of, or any part of, the United Kingdom. |
(4) The Secretary of State shall report to both Houses of Parliament before the end of each calendar year on—
| (a) | the targets he has set applying to the following calendar year; |
| (b) | the most recent available information concerning the performance relating to each target he has set for the current or any previous year; |
| (c) | any divergencies between (b) and the targets set by the Secretary of State applying to that period; |
| (d) | any explanations put forward by the Secretary of State for the divergences referred to in (c); and |
| (e) | any proposals put forward by the Secretary of State arising from his consideration of the divergencies referred to in (c).'. |
