§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out details of his calculations for the numbers of staff required in the offices of the rail regulatory and the franchising director respectively under the Railways Bill; and what estimate he has made of the changes in personnel(a) required in the railway section of the Department of Transport and (b) to occur in the British Railways board and combined new companies relative to those currently employed by the board.
§ Mr. FreemanThe number of staff estimated for the offices of the rail regulator and the franchising director reflects their expected workloads and is broadly comparable with the numbers working in other regulators' 863W offices. Once the new regime for the railways is established, we expect there to be a small saving in the number of departmental staff concerned with the railway industry. It is not possible to predict with any accuracy future employment levels within the railway industry.