§ Sir John StanleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) pursuant to his statement on 2 February,Official Report, column 243, that under the proposed rail franchising arrangement there should be a cap for those services that are a monopoly, at what level above the existing fares the cap will be set; and what the criteria will be for bringing the cap into effect;
(2) to what extent his policy on the guidance he will be issuing to the rail franchising authority as to the circumstances in which, and the extent to which, fares might be controlled has been developed beyond what is said in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the Railways Bill Committee paper No. 3 of February; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanFurther work remains to be done in developing the draft guidance that I provided to the Standing Committee in relation to fares regulation and other matters.