Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to the valuation of the railway pension scheme on the viability of (a) train operating company finances and (b) the wider rail franchising model.

The Train Operating Companies (TOC) sections of the Railways Pension Scheme (RPS) are private pensions provided by the relevant employer TOCs and managed by the RPS Trustee Board. As such the Department has no direct involvement in this process. The Department does monitor the RPS valuations in terms of franchising and the wider value for money implications.