Rail Privatisation (Hansard, 22 March 1994)

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give a detailed breakdown of amounts and the recipients of the £1.6 million which will be spent by the Office of the Rail Regulator in the financial year 1994–95 on external consultants for rail privatisation.

§ Mr. Freeman
The regulator informs me that he expects to incur the majority of his planned expenditure on external consultants in obtaining advice on questions of economics, accounting, business efficiency and legal advice in connection with the exercise of his statutory functions relating to the approval of access agreements and the monitoring of licences. It is his intention to let contracts on the basis of fair and open competitive tendering.

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give a detailed breakdown of the amounts and recipients of the £5.9 milion he estimates will be spent by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising in the financial year 1994–95 on external consultants for rail privatisation.

§ Mr. Freeman
The Office of Passenger Rail Franchising will require a range of consultancy services in 1994–95, including legal, financial and accountancy advice. The expenditure required in respect of specific consultancy services will depend on the precise amount of work commissioned.

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give a breakdown of amounts and recipients of the £12 million he estimates will be spent by his Department in the financial year 1994–95 on external consultants for rail privatisation.

§ Mr. Freeman
The £12 million expenditure for which the Department has made provision in the financial year 1994–95 is expected to cover advice on legal issues, merchant banking, accountancy and taxation, marketing, access charges, freight issues and information systems. The detailed breakdown will depend on how much work is commissioned in each area.