Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2019 to Question 243472 on Abellio Group, what assurances his Department has received from owning groups (a) Abellio and (b) Arriva that any sale of their UK government rail contracts will ensure future owners have the capacity to honour all commitments including parent company guarantees and performance bonds.

The ‘Change of Control’ provisions in the Franchise Agreement give the Secretary of State unlimited right to reject any sale of a franchise such as those owned by Abellio and Arriva. In deciding whether to approve such a sale, the Secretary of State would consider the arrangements in place for securing the same or improved parent company guarantees and performance bond arrangements as currently exist. This consideration would include the financial standing of the new owning group and other elements of their capacity to honour existing commitments.