Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many officials in his Department are allocated to each DfT OLR Holdings contract as of 6 September 2023.

There are four franchises managed by OLR Holdings which have Departmental officials allocated to them. The teams of officials managing OLR TOC contracts are comparable in size to those managing National Rail Contracts. These officials provide a range of a technical, contractual, and financial support to ensure the successful daily operation of the franchise.

As with commercial operations, the day-to-day decisions which drive safe delivery and manage to budget and policy are performed by the companies themselves, supported by their owning group. The DfT market teams use the same processes to manage the relationships and deliverables with OLR operators as with commercial operators.