The level of funding provided for operating, maintaining and renewing the railway is set ahead of each Railway Control Period through the Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) in line with the High-Level Output Specification (HLOS), which is a statement of what the Secretary of State for Transport wants to be achieved by railway activities during that control period. As noted in the Statement of Funds Available 2017, Government ensures that adequate funding is provided to meet NR’s debt obligations, out-with the SoFA process.