Railways: Franchises

Norman Baker
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what estimate he has made of the financial costs incurred by his Department when re-tendering each rail franchise since 2005.

Chris Mole
The total costs incurred by the Department for Transport in designing and tendering rail franchises from 2005-09 were £33.8 million, which comprises the following:

Departmental staff, administration and non-franchise specific adviser costs for undertaking the specification, procurement and review of franchising documentation over this five year period was £15.3 million. To allocate such costs by franchise would incur disproportionate cost.

External adviser costs for the franchises let by the Department 2005-09 were as follows:

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|                                                                                                                         |£ million|
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|Southeastern1                                                                                                            |2.0      |
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|Thameslink1                                                                                                              |1.4      |
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|Greater Western1                                                                                                         |1.3      |
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|South Western                                                                                                            |2.2      |
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|London Midland                                                                                                           |2.9      |
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|East Midlands                                                                                                            |2.6      |
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|Cross Country                                                                                                            |3.2      |
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|Intercity East Coast (2007)                                                                                              |1.3      |
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|Southern                                                                                                                 |1.6      |
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|1 Replacement initiated by the Strategic Rail Authority, concluded by the Department, the costs for which are identified.|         |
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