To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which railway stations will have a reduced service as a result of franchise specifications drawn up by his Department in the past three years. (108966)

Following on from the ‘Future of Rail’ White Paper (July 2004) and commencement of the Railways Act (Summer 2005), the Department has been responsible for drawing up franchise specifications for the South Western, East Midlands, West Midlands, and New Cross Country franchises.

Further detail is provided in the stakeholder briefing documents available on our website copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House. These documents summarise the service pattern changes proposed in the Invitations to Tender we issue to bidders. It should be noted, however, that the Department for Transport's approach to specification gives operators the flexibility to run more services, where this is operationally practicable, since we specify minimum, not maximum, service levels.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to review the procedure for the allocation of franchises to train operating companies. (119410)

As part of its commitment to continuous improvement, the Department for Transport (DfT) undertakes a ‘Lessons Learned’ exercise at the conclusion of every franchise replacement process to understand whether any areas for improvement have been identified. These are then incorporated into the procedures for subsequent franchise replacements. Therefore, the procedures being used for the replacement of the New Cross Country, East Midlands and West Midlands franchises incorporate improvements to the process identified from the recently completed franchises.

Details of the franchise replacement process are available on the DfT website at:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/.