Results 1-20 of 730 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Chris Mole

Norwich Northern Distributor Road (19 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I congratulate the hon. Member for Norwich, North (Chloe Smith) on securing this debate on the proposed Norwich northern distributor route. She is one of the newer Members of the House and, if I am not mistaken, this is the first Adjournment debate that she has secured since entering Parliament in July. However, I might caution her not to mix politics and football, which can be unwise. I...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: The action by drivers on First Capital Connect appears to be co-ordinated, and given that talks are continuing, it is highly regrettable. Passengers are being seriously inconvenienced and we urge all parties to resolve this unacceptable situation as soon as possible. Concerted action to stop trains running is irresponsible, but train companies need to ensure that their staffing arrangements...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: As I said in my response to the hon. Lady's urgent question, the franchise agreement with First Capital Connect requires the company to use reasonable endeavours to run a full service. As I said, we are monitoring that situation daily. The change to the timetable requires agreement, which has been given on a day-by-day basis. First Capital Connect is being asked to justify the level of...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: It was, of course, deeply regrettable that services were disrupted on Sunday when, as we know, a number of people wanted to travel in order to pay their respects on Remembrance day. I have to say that the questions raised by the hon. Lady are essentially matters for the company. We have a franchise system in which we place trust in the companies to deliver the service that we franchise to...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I asserted in my statement that the action appeared to be co-ordinated by employees, and I will not go beyond that assertion today. The hon. Gentleman asked whether the position on the use of voluntary and shift working was the same that in other train companies. We are currently trying to determine the extent to which that arrangement is a problem, but it is clear that it is not universal,...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I assure my hon. Friend that the Government's clear view is that it is not appropriate to disadvantage passengers in that way, whatever the merits of any disagreement between any group of employees and the management. I also assure him that we will continue to look into the degree to which the company was prepared for this situation, and will consider whether that suggests that it needs to...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: As has been made clear, the action is currently unofficial, and we have no intelligence that suggests that it is likely to spread.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: The question of remuneration is obviously part of the package that the management need to consider in their relationships with their employees. It must be said that before the start of this series of incidents the actual performance on the line had improved significantly, and was relatively good.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. One of the challenges for us in the management of franchises is that the starting arrangements can be one thing, but arrangements can change over time. We will need to consider that in the letting of future franchises, and ensure that arrangements that companies put forward as robust, and able to deliver what they commit to in the franchise, remain so.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: My hon. Friend has gone to the heart of the question. The shift patterns are clearly a big part of the problem, but we expect the businesses to have the freedom to manage the franchises within the outputs that we expect them to deliver. Whether the shift patterns need to be changed is essentially a matter for the companies, but we will have to discuss it further with them. My hon. Friend made...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: The right hon. Gentleman will, no doubt, already have welcomed the investment that the Government intend to make in the Thameslink service over the coming years: some £5.5 billion of investment will be made to improve trains, stations and frequency of service to meet the capacity on one of our busiest railway lines. I am sure that he will want to support that. Reimbursement is a matter...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I thank my hon. Friend for his interest. I repeat the encouragement to all parties to seek a negotiated settlement that will allow the railway to resume its full pattern of operation as quickly as possible. On his second question, we will of course stand ready to intervene as a matter of last resort, if necessary.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I remind the hon. Gentleman that we have a privatised railway in which the franchises are let by the Government, and that within the period of the operation of the franchise we expect the companies to use their best endeavours to ensure that the service is delivered. Beyond that, it is not appropriate for us to intervene directly unless the situation gets significantly worse.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his constructive intervention. The whole purpose of the notice arrangement is to ensure that we can get that advance information to passengers when the timetable has to change for such reasons. He makes a reasonable point about alerting Members of Parliament, and we will seek to ensure that that happens.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: The hon. Gentleman is a tad optimistic if he thinks that franchises can turn additional capacity on and off quite as quickly as that. Perhaps he would be more prepared to welcome the announcement that I made earlier in the year that the midland main line would have some additional capacity running in from Watford to relieve congestion on some of those trains.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I am not in a position to give the hon. Gentleman that information.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I can assure the hon. Gentleman that Ministers in this Government take their responsibilities seriously and impartially, and would not be influenced by any such factors.

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: As I said, we are in continuous dialogue with First Capital Connect. As I told the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone), there are no easy ways to turn additional services on and off.

South London Line (11 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: First, I want to congratulate the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) on securing this debate and on making the case so well for rail services in this area of south London. In the time that I have, I may struggle to cover the complexity of the issues involved and he may not find that the shape of my response entirely matches the way he has put his questions....

South London Line (11 Nov 2009)

Chris Mole: I advise my hon. Friend that we will be exploring more options as we go forward. As with any such funding agreements, there are a number of conditions attached to the funding, of which TfL was fully aware before it signed up to the offer. Conscious of the need to keep stakeholders informed on any changes, the Department included within the agreement a clause that requires TfL to inform key...