Written Question
Tuesday 9th December 2014
Asked by:
Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the annual profits to be made by the successful bidders for the East Coast rail franchise.
Answered by Baroness Kramer
- Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The level of profit bid by Inter City Railways Limited is commercially sensitive. It is not guaranteed and is commensurate with the risks associated with a franchise of this size and nature. The Government has put in place a profit cap and profit sharing mechanism to prevent any possibility of “over-compensation”.
Written Question
Monday 14th July 2014
Asked by:
Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost of the proposed extension of Crossrail to Reading.
Answered by Baroness Kramer
- Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The Crossrail Project (which is managed by Crossrail Limited) will save approximately £10m as a result of the extension to Reading as some items of scope which were planned to be delivered at Slough and Maidenhead are no longer required.
The service requires one additional train to be added to the Crossrail fleet. This will form part of the recently announced rolling stock and depot contract with Bombardier where there was an option to procure additional trains. The exact costs of the train are commercially confidential but I can confirm that the cost is being met from Crossrail's existing funding.
Electrification costs are already included in the Great Western electrification programme.
Written Question
Tuesday 8th July 2014
Asked by:
Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the East Coast rail line will continue to connect directly the north-east of England with Edinburgh and Scotland, with stops on some services in Northumberland.
Answered by Baroness Kramer
- Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The Invitation To Tender (ITT) for the Inter City East Coast franchise retained services for all stops currently served by the franchise, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and all other stops in Scotland, and stops at Northumberland. The ITT specified minimum levels of train services including those between the North-East of England and Scotland and we anticipate bidders will offer services over and above this minimum requirement.
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Mar 2014
Railways: High Speed 2
"My Lords, I declare an interest in HS2. Unfortunately, it is likely to be a post-mortem interest because by the time it reaches Newcastle I will have long since been dead and buried. The urgent need is for investment now, or as soon as possible, in the north-east in the …..."Lord Beecham - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 27 Feb 2013
Growth and Infrastructure Bill
"My Lords, I endorse my noble friend’s amendment and refer for the third or fourth time to what used to be available to local authorities in the form of planning development grant to improve and sustain the capacity of planning departments, which now, like every other local government department, have …..."Lord Beecham - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Jan 2013
Growth and Infrastructure Bill
" My Lords, on behalf of the city of Newcastle, I disavow any territorial ambitions in relation to Cumbria, even though we are connected by the Roman wall, part of which runs through and, indeed, is visible in the ward I represent.
I am the fifth consecutive former council leader …..."Lord Beecham - View Speech
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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Jan 2013
Growth and Infrastructure Bill
"Liverpool was in many minds at that time. The noble Lord and I perhaps shared a view about Liverpool, but we were not alone in that.
The principle of looking across government departments and local authority functions embodied in a small way in those arrangements was returned to under the …..."Lord Beecham - View Speech
View all Lord Beecham (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Growth and Infrastructure Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Jan 2013
Growth and Infrastructure Bill
"I agree with that. What would be a concern would be the individual smallish councils in an area each seeking a separate agreement. It is the point about co-operation, which I thought the noble Lord was advancing, that I seek to emphasise and I assume the Government would accept.
Again, …..."Lord Beecham - View Speech
View all Lord Beecham (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Growth and Infrastructure Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Jan 2013
Growth and Infrastructure Bill
"A high-speed train?..."Lord Beecham - View Speech
View all Lord Beecham (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Growth and Infrastructure Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 30 Jan 2013
Growth and Infrastructure Bill
"My Lords, I strongly support these amendments. It seems contrary to the whole thrust of the Localism Act that central government should impose its decision on what are absolutely fundamentally local matters, and do so in such a way as effectively to preclude the local council from taking decisions of …..."Lord Beecham - View Speech
View all Lord Beecham (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Growth and Infrastructure Bill