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On 30 September 2005, the Competition Commission was asked to investigate the proposed acquisition of the new Greater Western franchise (the GWF) by FirstGroup plc (FirstGroup). FirstGroup is a UK-based transport company with bus, tram and rail operations across the UK and North America and currently operates four passenger rail franchises in the UK (First Great Western, First Great Western Link, First Trans Pennine Express and First ScotRail, along with a non-franchise "open access" rail service (Hull Trains), and will also operate the Thameslink/Great Northern franchise from 1 April 2006. The new franchise will run for seven years from 1 April 2006, and was awarded to FirstGroup by the Department of Transport on 22 December 2005. The Commission has decided that substantial lessening of competition (SLC) will not result from the merger, either for the alternative public transport services available for their "point-to-point journeys" or to the wider network markets.
It is thirteen years since the Railways Act 1993 started the process of privatising British Rail, replacing it with one company owning and managing the infrastructure, an open-access system for freight services and a series of twenty-five passenger franchises let to private companies for a specified period of time. This period has seen almost continuous change, and there is now a new 'triumvirate' framework with the Department for Transport, the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail in place, with the third generation of franchises in the process of being let and the number being reduced to nineteen. The Committee's report examines the current franchising system, focusing on the coherence of its objectives, the effectiveness of the process for awarding franchises and the management of franchise agreements, and whether more competition and vertical integration is needed. Findings include that the current system represents a policy muddle which lacks a coherent framework for the development of good services and delivery of value for money for passengers and taxpayers. The only way the Government can increase capacity and improve services for the long-term is to drop the dogmatic pursuit of competition in its decision-making as to what the private and public sectors can and should do in future. The Government's forthcoming long-term strategy for the railways will need to address these issues, and to set out a structure and a strategy capable of securing quality passenger rail services to meet demand over the next half a century.
This book is a fully up-to-date, comprehensive guide to the law, economics and practice of UK merger control law. This guide presents an integrated legal and economic assessment of the substantive appraisal of mergers and examines in detail the following topics: the history of the Enterprise Act and its development from the Fair Trading Act; the various regulatory bodies that form the institutional structure of the UK merger control regime; enterprises subject to merger control regulation and the jurisdictional thresholds of the Enterprise Act; the relationship of the Enterprise Act with the European Merger Regulation; public interest mergers and the role of the Secretary of State; and merger remedies. All recent legislative developments including the merger of the OFT and the Competition Commission and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, as well as all relevant case since the first edition of the magisterial text are explored.
This publication sets out the Government's response to the Committee's report (HC 574, session 2005-06 (ISBN 0215027590) on the eighth annual report by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ('Human Rights Annual Report 2005', Cm. 6606, ISBN 0101660626). Issues discussed in the report include: the international legal framework and the work of international institutions; the war against terrorism and treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, extraordinary rendition and the use of information derived from torture, the situation in Iraq and the trial of Saddam Hussein; the arms trade and military assistance, and corporate social responsibility. Amongst the Government's responses, it disagrees with the concerns the Committee raised over i) the fact that the Minister responsible for human rights issues is also the Minister of State for Trade, roles that the Committee found to be often contradictory; and ii) the decision to subsume human rights work into the more general category of sustainable development.
The Department for Transport took a tough line in negotiating with the owner of the InterCity East Coast franchise, National Express, before terminating the franchise agreement in 2009. The Department avoided disruption to passenger services and protected the taxpayer, securing overall value for money. In awarding the contract to National Express in 2007, the Department had applied lessons learnt from the failure of the previous franchisee, Great North Eastern Railway, and got a good deal. Adequate protections for the taxpayer had been included in the contract if the franchisee got into financial difficulties. The Department did not consider it necessary to stress test bids for deliverability should there be an economic downturn. By January 2009, however, the Department considered that the franchise was at high risk of failure. It refused to renegotiate the terms of the contract and the contract was subsequently terminated. Termination was the best way of protecting the taxpayer. If other franchises, which were seen as at high risk, had sought to renegotiate their contracts, the Department may have had to support them at an estimated cost of £200 million to £450 million. The costs of setting up East Coast, the new publicly owned company to run the franchise, and its eventual return to the private sector are expected to be £15 million. National Express paid the Department of Transport £31 million on the termination of its contract. However, the final cost to the taxpayer will not be clear until the franchise has been re-let in 2012.
Competition law, at both the EC and UK levels, plays an important and ever-increasing role in regulating the conduct of businesses. Based on the premise that open and fair competition is good for both consumers and businesses, competition law prevents businesses from entering into anti-competitive agreements and from abusing their dominant market position. Competition Law and Policy in the EC and UK looks at how competition law affects business, including: co-ordinated actions; pricing behaviour; take-overs and mergers; and state subsidies. It provides a clear guide to and outline of the general policies behind, and the main provisions of EC and UK competition law. Information is presented within a structured framework, complete with a glossary of useful terminology. This fourth edition has been revised and updated to take into account developments since publication of the previous edition, including expanded coverage of the regulation of cartels, the development of private enforcement, the consideration of IP issues in Microsoft, and extended discussion of UK competition Law.
Competition Law and Policy in the EU and UK provides a focused guide to the main provisions and policies at issue in the EU and UK, including topics such as enforcement, abuse of dominance, anti-competitive agreements, cartels, mergers, and market investigations. The book’s contents are tailored to cover all major topics in competition law teaching, and the authors’ clear and accessible writing style offers an engaging and easy to follow overview of the subject for course use. The fifth edition provides a full update for this well-established title, presenting and contextualising the impact of key cases, as well as changes to enforcement practice, and at a legislative and institutional level. There are new, separate chapters in this edition on private enforcement and UK market investigations to reflect the increasing significance of these key areas of competition law practice. Competition Law and Policy in the EU and UK integrates useful pedagogical features to help clarify topics and reinforce important points: chapter overviews and summaries highlight the key points to take away from each chapter to structure student learning discussion questions facilitate self-testing and seminar discussions of the major issues covered in each chapter, to help reinforce understanding of these topics further reading lists additional resources in order to guide research and develop subject knowledge a new glossary provides succinct explanations of competition law terminology, ideal for those studying the topic for the first time Clear, focused and student-friendly, this title offers a comprehensive resource for students taking competition law courses, and is supported online by updates to the law offered on Angus MacCulloch’s blog, Who’s Competing (http://whoscompeting.wordpress.com/).
This NAO report (HC 1047, session 2007-09), examines rail franchises and the impact they have had on franchises competition; the taxpayer; the passenger and the approach to managing rail franchises in general. Passenger rail services are provided by train operating companies under franchise agreements which generally run 7-10 years. Whilst responsibility for the operation and condition of the track rests with Network Rail, the Department of Transport has ultimate responsibility where it affects passengers and has taken oversight responsibility for passenger rail franchising following the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority in 2005. The National Audit Office has set out the following recommendations in respect of rail franchises, including: on letting franchises, regional decision making bodies, should have greater involvement; where bids for rail franchises occur, alternative options should be taken into consideration, such as value for money and affordability; that there should be transparency on financial support for franchises with information on how fares cover the overall costs of passenger rail services and the extent of Government support; that there should also be greater transparency on service quality standards; the Government, when negotiating extra passenger capacity, needs to adjust the contract revenue target where appropriate, so that it can better engage in commercial negotiations; also the Department should staff the National Networks Group adequately and not rely unduly on agency staff, given the strategic importance of rail franchising and the potential to reduce direct subsidies.
Personal passenger safety in railway Stations : Oral and written evidence, oral evidence taken on Wednesday 19 April 2006

Rail 2020

Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee

Published: 2013-01-07

Total Pages: 234


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Incorporating HC 537 i & ii. Additional written evidence is contained in Volume 3, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/transcom