The Department is currently working on a number of proposals from local authorities that relate to light rail. These proposals are in various stages of development from the initial submission of a business case, to those which are applying for statutory powers to operate and others which are close to finalising their bids for full funding approval.
As these schemes are complex the Department has to draw upon a number of disciplines for the provision of legal and financial advice, economic appraisal of the schemes, as well as the assessment of project delivery.
Currently we estimate that 28 departmental officials are involved in this. However, given the nature of this work this will fluctuate.