HM Government

I am today (20 July 2017) publishing my high level output specification (HLOS) and initial statement of funds available (SOFA) for the railway for control period 6, which covers the years 2019 to 2024.

The government is determined that the railway becomes more focused on issues that matter most to passengers — such as punctuality and reliability. A more reliable railway also plays a critical role in underpinning economic growth and bringing the country together. The government is committed to taking action to achieve these outcomes.

The HLOS is therefore focussed on the operation, maintenance and renewal of the existing railway — the areas of activity that will deliver a more reliable railway for passengers. The government is already delivering significant enhancements to the railway, including High Speed 2 and Crossrail and it expects to continue to invest in the enhancement to the wider rail network in the next control period. In light of the findings of the Bowe Review, which emphasised the need to enable better planning, cost control and alignment with the needs of users of the railway, government will take forward the funding of these enhancements separately. The government is developing a new process for delivering enhancements and intends to publish more information on this in the autumn.

On the basis of independent advice from the Office of Rail and Road, as well as from the rail industry, the government has agreed that an increased volume of renewals activity will be needed over the course of control period 6, to maintain safety and improve on current levels of reliability and punctuality, which in places fall short of the levels that passengers rightly expect. This enhanced programme of renewals will be supported by appropriate volumes of operations and maintenance activity required to maintain safety and improve the reliability and punctuality of train services.

Before committing to the specific levels of funding required, I have decided that the government requires more assurance on the likely costs of the work programme. Network Rail’s progress on improving its efficiency in recent years has fallen short of my expectations. Improving efficiency is vital if we are to maximise the value of taxpayer spending on the railway in driving improvements for passengers and freight shippers.

The government will therefore carry out further work to examine the approach to setting appropriate levels of maintenance and renewals activity for control period 6 and to improving Network Rail’s efficiency. This will enable me to confirm the extent of government’s funding envelope through the publication of a statement of funds available by 13 October 2017. This work will draw on a number of sources, including the new independent review of progress on efficiency planning which the regulator has commissioned

Alongside the publication of the HLOS, I am issuing new statutory guidance to the independent Office of Rail and Road. This sets out my priorities for rail regulation. These include supporting the ORR’s work to improve Network Rail’s efficiency and improving the experience of users of the railway.

I am arranging for copies of the HLOS and SOFA, and of the statutory guidance to the Office of Rail and Road, to be placed in the libraries of the House.

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Today (20 July 2017), the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility, Margot James MP, has appointed 5 new members to the panel of ordinary members of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the Tribunal).

The Tribunal is a specialist judicial body with expertise in law, economics, business and accountancy. Its function is to hear and decide appeals and other applications or claims involving competition or economic regulatory issues.

The new members are:

• Mr Peter Anderson
• Ms Kirstin Baker CBE
• Mr Eamonn Doran
• Mr Paul Lomas
• Professor Anthony Neuberger

Notes to editors

1. Ordinary members are selected for their expertise in law, business, accountancy, economics and other related fields. Prior to the making of these appointments, the Tribunal’s panel of ordinary members consisted of 21 members (11 of whose terms of appointment end on 3 January 2019).

2. The new members are appointed for 8 years and paid according to the amount of time that they spend working for the Tribunal, based on a daily rate, currently £400. The appointments carry no right of pension, gratuity or allowance on their termination. The appointments announced today will commence on 1 October 2017.

3. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity to be made public. None of the new members are politically active.

4. Although these appointments do not come within the remit of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA), they have been made following OCPA best practice.

5. The Tribunal is a specialist judicial body with cross-disciplinary expertise in law, economics, business and accountancy. It consists of the President and Chairmen, who are appointed by the Lord Chancellor, and the panel of ordinary members. Cases are heard before a Tribunal consisting of 3 members: either the President or a member of the panel of Chairmen and 2 ordinary members.

6. Support staff and functions to the Tribunal are provided by the Competition Service (CS). The CS has 17 members of staff and it is headed by the Registrar, who is appointed by the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

About the new members

Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson has been a solicitor in Scotland since 1975 and a Solicitor Advocate in Scotland since 1994. He was a partner in Simpson & Marwick, Solicitors, Scotland from 1978 and since the firm merged with Clyde & Co Solicitors, a partner there since 2015. He has over 40 years’ experience in general insurance work, specialising in complex and high value personal injury claims, professional negligence, commercial litigation and aviation disputes. He has lengthy experience as Chairman and Managing Partner of a sizeable law firm.

Kirstin Baker CBE

Kirstin Baker had a long career in the civil service and was most recently HM Treasury’s Finance and Commercial Director. Earlier in her career, she led the Treasury team coordinating public spending policy and managed many of the Treasury’s interventions in individual banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Kirstin has also worked as a competition official in the European Commission, as an EU policy advisor in the Cabinet Office and as a senior civil servant in the Scottish government, leading work on infrastructure investment. Kirstin holds non-executive positions on the boards of UK Financial Investments, The Pensions Regulator and Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust. She is also vice-chair of the Council of Sussex University. Kirstin is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. She was awarded a CBE in 2011 for her work during the financial crisis

Eamonn Doran

Eamonn Doran is a solicitor who has worked at Linklaters LLP since 1986, latterly as a partner, becoming a partner consultant in 2014. He specialised in EU and UK competition law with particular experience of inquiries concerning retail banking and financial services and was head of the London competition group from 2009. He also has experience of the education and charity sectors including, since 2013, as a director of the Laurels School Limited and a trustee of Missio, a Catholic mission charity.

Paul Lomas

Paul Lomas is a solicitor (with Higher Rights of Audience). He has been with Freshfields (subsequently Freshfields Bruckahaus Deringer) since 1982 and a partner from 1990. His experience includes general litigation, including commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, joint ventures, a wide range of regulatory litigation and defence work, financial services law, energy law, art law and, particularly competition, cartel and EU law.

Professor Anthony Neuberger

Anthony Neuberger is currently Professor of Finance at Cass Business School at the City University of London where, since 2016, he has also been the Deputy Head of the Finance Faculty. He was previously at the University of Warwick as Professor of Finance and the London Business School as Associate Professor of Finance. He also has experience of working for the Department of Energy and the Cabinet Office between 1973 and 1983.

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The British High Commissioner, Thomas Drew CMG, visited Quetta to launch a photography exhibition and IELTS in Balochistan. The exhibition, entitled ‘Shared History. Shared Future.’, showcases 70 years of UK-Pakistan relations and will be open to the general public from 19 to 21 July at the Shahi Qila Hall in the Serena Hotel in Quetta.

The Governor of Balochistan, Muhammad Khan Achakzai, and the British Council’s Country Director for Pakistan, Ms Rosemary Hilhorst OBE, also joined the British High Commissioner at the event along with guests from Quetta and wider Balochistan, including some of the British Council’s local school partners.

During his two-day visit to Quetta the British High Commissioner, Mr Thomas Drew, met a range of political, security and trade leaders in the province. He met the Governor of Balochistan, Muhammad Khan Achakzai, the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, Ms Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani, the Minister for Home and Tribal Affairs, Mir Sarfraz Bugti, Leader of the Opposition in the Balochistan Provincial Assembly, Maulana Abdul Wasay and President of the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Abdul Wadood Achakzai.

Mr Thomas Drew also earlier met with Commander Southern Command, Lt Gen Aamer Riaz, Inspector General Frontier Corps, Maj Gen Nadeem Anjum and visited Quetta Staff and Command College and met with the Commandant Maj Gen Aamir Abbasi and the British student.

The British High Commissioner, Mr Thomas Drew CMG, said:

This is my first visit to Quetta as High Commissioner and I am delighted to be here in the provincial capital of Balochistan, a region that has such great potential for a brighter future for Pakistan.

The photographs that are displayed today in this exhibition showcase the strong links that have existed over the last 70 years between the UK and Pakistan. Whether it is cooperation in sports, politics, development, defence, trade, education, infrastructure or culture, the UK remains committed to our goal of a secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan.

The re-launch of the international English language testing system in Quetta today further emphasises the strength of our relationship, and the UK’s investment in Balochistan.

The Country Director of British Council Pakistan, Ms Rosemary Hilhorst OBE said:

British Council has been working in Pakistan for the last 70 years in the fields of arts, education, English and society. We are committed to helping people here realise their potential and building friendly relations between the people of Pakistan and the UK.

IELTS is the world’s most popular English Language Test; nearly 3 million IELTS tests were taken around the world last year. The test opens doors to educational and professional opportunities and I am delighted that people of Quetta will now be able to take the IELTS test in their own city.

Over the coming months, the British High Commission’s ‘Shared History. Shared Future.’ photography exhibition will tour the UK and other cities in Pakistan. Throughout the year, the British High Commission, in collaboration with the Pakistan High Commission in London, is organising several events and activities to mark 70 years of UK and Pakistan’s relations. Details of these events are regularly featured on the British High Commission’s social media pages.

Contact

More Information:

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We value diversity and difference. We work in over 100 countries in the areas of arts, education and English. In Pakistan, we have been working since 1947. For more information, please visit the website

For updates on the British High Commission’s 70th Anniversary of UK – Pakistan relations and for more information on British Council in Pakistan:

• Twitter: @pkBritish, @UKinPakistan, @ChevPakistan, @tomdrewUK

• Facebook: facebook.com/bhcpakistan facebook.com/BritishCouncilPakistan

• Instagram: @UKinPakistan; @BritishCouncilPakistan

• #UKPAK70#IELT

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Thank you Mr President, and thank you Secretary-General and Commissioner Chergui for your positive and constructive briefings this morning. It was also a pleasure to hear the interventions of the Foreign Minister of Senegal and the Deputy Minister of Ukraine, who reminded us that yesterday was Nelson Mandela Day. He would have turned 99 yesterday. And so I wanted to begin with a quote from him, in his book, Long Walk to Freedom, he said, and I quote: “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”

“Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”

And that flame does remains hidden for far too many people across the continent of Africa. For the people of the Kasais in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for the people of South Sudan, that flame may appear almost extinguished, lost amidst the shadows of instability and conflict.

But though the flame grows dim in parts of the continent, Mandela was right; it cannot be extinguished.

We know this from the great strides made by countries like Cote D’Ivoire, moving away from years of war, and now looking ahead to decades of peace.

We see it in progress towards democracy, like the elections in Somalia in February, where women won nearly a quarter of the parliamentary seats, and that was a vital step towards one person, one vote elections.

And we see that flame burn brightly in the work of organisations like the African Union, like ECOWAS, helping African countries find common cause to overcome common concerns.

And Mr President, this Council has a vital role to play in fostering that flame. And to do so, here are three particular things that I think we need to do.

First, we must all work together – the United Nations, this Council, the countries and organisations of Africa – to address the root causes of conflict. We spend too much time and money responding to crises rather than preventing them. And that’s why the United Kingdom so strongly supports the Secretary-General in his agenda of Sustaining Peace and his increased focus on conflict prevention.

And for that agenda to succeed, the United Nations needs to diversify the way that it engages, using development cooperation proactively to build peace, and supporting more diplomacy, including mediation. As the ECOWAS’s mediation in the Gambia showed, this means more cooperation with regional actors who have the right experience and influence to deliver results on the ground. And this Council, and our colleagues in the African Union, must demonstrate unambiguously to those who perpetuate conflict that there are severe political and economic consequences for doing so.

Second thing, Mr President, we must all be ready to respond when conflict does occurs. Effective, efficient UN peacekeeping is one of our strongest assets to do so. And it is a shared asset; African nations provide over half of the peacekeepers deployed to African missions. And I want to pay tribute to them, all of them, for their service, so often in dangerous circumstances.

The United Kingdom is committed to improving the planning of peacekeeping missions, the quality and quantity of pledges of troops and equipment, and the performance of missions and troops on the ground.

But this will all count for little if we don’t have the trust of those we seek to protect. This means, amongst other things, eradicating the corrosive spectre of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers. We must implement fully the framework for action in Resolution 2272 to uphold and enforce the high standards of conflict. Zero tolerance must mean zero tolerance.

And in parallel, we need more women working in missions, out in the field reassuring local populations, gathering vital intelligence, contributing to more effective operations.

And thirdly, Mr President, we need to strengthen and deepen our existing partnerships. The UN and African Union relationship is critical for peace and security in Africa. As we’ve seen in Somalia, Mali, Central African Republic, this relationship makes such difference to those most in need.

So we applaud your efforts to make those joint efforts more systematic and we are reassured that the UN/AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security will lead to better co-operation and co-ordination.

There are many issues we should address to realise fully the co-operation envisioned in resolution 2320: agreeing mechanisms and processes, sharing standards and procedures – including on human rights, accountability and transparency – and establishing, as the Secretary-General reminded us again today, a source of sustainable and predictable financing for African peace support operations.

We welcome the work that the United Nations has done with the African Union so far on this agenda. And we now need to see that work continue and I look forward to our visit as a Security Council to Addis Ababa in September.

So there is a lot more to do, Mr President. But we cannot be deterred in our efforts to support peace and security in Africa. And I’d like to close by returning to the words of the late Nelson Mandela. “Do not look the other way; do not hesitate. Recognise that the world is hungry for actions, not words. Act with courage and vision.” So let us all act in that spirit.

Thank you.

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