Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether they have any plans to consider business rates relief for post offices.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQ UIN 125750 and UIN 128242.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the total expected cost saving and revenue generation opportunities from the reorganisation of the railway industry into Great British Railways.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The creation of Great British Railways (GBR) will reduce fragmentation and improve whole-system decision making in the rail industry. Integration of track and train is expected to lead to significant cost efficiencies. A large share of these efficiencies are expected to derive from improved coordination in day-to-day decision making. Detailed design decisions will influence how these benefits are realised and in what form.
Rail reform is expected to improve passenger experience through improvements to rail performance due to the establishment of GBR and other provisions in the Railways Bill. This may facilitate greater demand and revenue in the long-term.
Further detail on the impacts of GBR can be found in the Railways Bill Impact Assessment.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the total expected cost saving and revenue generation opportunities from bringing train operating companies into state ownership.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Public ownership is expected to generate significant savings and revenue generation opportunities for Government. For example, once all currently franchised services have transferred, public ownership will save the taxpayer up to £110 million to £150 million a year in fees that would otherwise have been paid to private operators.
Further detail on the impacts of public ownership can be found in the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill Impact Assessment.