Next week Members will debate the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee’s report following its inquiry on rail services and its annual scrutiny of Transport for Wales (TfW). Here’s some key pointers ahead of the debate:
- On TfW’s corporate performance, the Committee welcomed steps taken to reduce the gender pay gap & promote workforce diversity. However it said there’d been a lack of progress towards it's 2022 recommendations to improve transparency of TfW’s budget process.
- On rail services, the Committee heard evidence from Transport Focus, Railfuture Wales and Community Rail Network. It also questioned TfW itself on issues such as franchise commitments not being met, additional funding needed to maintain services and overspending on the South Wales Metro project.
- Although the Committee acknowledged this is a challenging time for TfW, with rolling stock replacement & the Core Valley Lines modernisation project ongoing, it concluded that TfW rail performance was “not good enough”.
- It also said rail provision for major events is “simply inadequate”. In total the Committee made 21 recommendations to both TfW and the Welsh Government.
- The Committee also wrote to the Auditor General for Wales earlier this month calling for calling for a review of the delivery of rail services and a value-for money review of the CVL modernisation project.
- Both the Welsh Government and TfW accepted, or accepted in principle all of the Committee’s recommendations.
You can tune in to the debate live on Senedd TV next Wednesday 3rd July.
In Brief by Francesca Howorth, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
