Speeches by Turner.

“The hon. Lady just said that she has been informed by business groups that were in the negotiations that this measure was not agreed. Will she name them?”

“I wish to associate myself with the sentiments expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton). Something has clearly gone very wrong with the safety advisory group process in respect of Aston Villa, as the Minister, to her credit, has said from the start. I am particularly concerned…”

“The OBR is a valuable institution, and the “Economic and fiscal outlook” is by far the most important document that it produces. Today’s report makes it clear that the OBR’s IT infrastructure was a point of critical failure that should have been identified as far back as 2013. Does the Minister agree that the chair of …”

“As a local MP, I have previously expressed my concerns about the decision-making process. I welcome the Minister’s commitment today that a review is being carried out about how such risk assessments are made. I understand why some information may not be suitable for placing in the public domain, but can the Minister as…”

“Arooj, you mentioned the Casey audit a while ago. As you know, it said that the Government should legislate to address the important issues, including in relation to passenger safety. What should this legislation include?”

“Emma, if you have examples of local authorities that you think are doing this very well and those that you think are not doing it so well, we would be interested to have that in writing. Thank you.”

“Elsie, did you want to come in first?”

“I had a question about NR3S. I am conscious of time and several of you have already spoken about the database so please do not feel the need to repeat anything you have said to us previously. Is there anything else that you wish to tell us about NR3S or how it can be improved? Specifically, we would be interested in yo…”

“I have a follow-up question to Emma. We have heard from the previous panel and elsewhere that not only is there the problem of around one third of authorities not requiring training, but there is a variation in the quality of the training that is provided. Can you tell us more about what that variation looks like and w…”

“No, I am talking about poor practice.”

“One of the issues we are particularly interested in for this inquiry is disability access. We have heard evidence from Transport for All that disabled passengers often face discrimination and refusals or cancellations of bookings. Similarly, Guide Dogs report that 63% of guide handlers were refused service in the past …”

“Following up on Elsie’s point about safety, this question is not so much about your individual actions as operators as it is about the suitability of the current system. The 2018 task and finish group did recommend that the 2015 cross-border hiring changes be reversed on the basis partly of public safety. TfL at the ti…”

“Do you observe that behaviour from other players in the industry?”

“The Minister said in his response that the Treasury and the OBR are exchanging information, but that did not happen in the period immediately before the last election, when spending pressures were withheld from the OBR in a way that the chair said may have broken the law. Will the Minister confirm that that failure is …”

“Thinking about the destination as well as the journey, in 10 years’ time, once we are past that implementation period, do you foresee, for example, West Midlands Rail existing as a unit within Great British Railways, or could it be an approach that is more similar to the old split that used to exist between regional ra…”

“Finally, you mentioned liveries. The InterCity livery and brand has been successfully exported around the world, but, in perhaps a very British fashion, we no longer use it in this country, where it was created. Do you think that that could make a return?”

“We have heard from a number of witnesses that there are improvements and efficiencies to be had from integrating track and train. There is perhaps a bit of a question mark over what integration actually means. The Department’s consultation published in February spoke about a single organisation with a single cohesive s…”

“Secretary of State, you mentioned the rail accessibility road map earlier, which contained a commitment to reform the access for all programme. It said that this would be as part of the establishment of Great British Railways. Can you tell us more about what reforms you envisage? What is going wrong at the moment? Is t…”

“It is interesting to hear that we might be transitioning to an approach that has a longer design phase before projects are introduced. Another issue with access for all has been the end of one control period and the start of another, which is an issue in common with other parts of the rail capital programme. Last May, …”

“When Opposition Members talk about defenestration, I do listen—because of their greater expertise in these matters. And, of course, “What’s past is prologue”—the hon. Gentleman tempts me to get on to the Zinoviev letter, but that might be one for another day. However, I have actually made only one brief reference to th…”