HC Deb 25 June 1993 vol 227 cc281-2W
Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria he will use to judge the effectiveness and value for money of his rail privatisation proposals.

Mr. Freeman

Our proposals are intended to enable the railways to provide a higher quality of service, with greater responsiveness to customers' needs, and to offer better value for money to the public who travel by rail.

Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what arrangements he has made to ensure that business travellers will still be able to use rail warrants to pay for tickets after the franchising of rail passenger services.

Mr. Freeman

Future participation in warrant schemes will be a matter for negotiation with operators. Arrangements to facilitate this are still under discussion.

Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which authority will become responsible, under his proposals for the privatisation of BR, for handling telephone inquiries for the inquiry bureaux currently operated by British Rail; and what steps he is taking to ensure that they continue to provide information for the whole of the national rail network.

Mr. Freeman

The provision of co-ordinated passenger information over the telephone is still under discussion. If necessary, it will be possible to impose suitable obligations through licences or franchise agreements.

Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure that rail franchise operators will continue to accept Inter-Rail and Rail Europe Senior railcards after privatisation of British Rail.

Mr. Freeman

Franchisees will be required to honour existing tickets. Future participation in international ticketing offers will be a matter for commercial negotiation, as it is now for British Rail, within joint industry arrangements as necessary.

Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the first rail passenger franchises to be offered to the private sector; and which services these will be.

Mr. Freeman

I expect the first franchises to be offered to the private sector in 1994. These are likely to be the seven service groupings announced in February. The Victoria-Gatwick express is in the vanguard of the restructuring process and is expected to be offered to the private sector ahead of other services.