Speeches by Mayer.

“You seem to be referring to GBR as one great big cohesive body, but presumably it will have a regional structure of some description, because all big organisations do. Do you see your role as enforcing standardisation to make GBR into a cohesive whole?”

“That is all on that, thank you. We have somewhat covered this already—particularly with Maggie—but given the parameters placed on the ORR as an appeals body for access decisions, will it be equipped to act in the best interests of the rail network as a whole?”

“Alongside its shared general duties, the Office of Road and Rail also has specific duties on safety and promoting competition. Those duties already exist in statute—I think you were just saying that they were a bit dated—so what does the Bill do to modify them?”

“The general duties that apply to GBR are the same as those that apply to Ministers and the ORR. If the duties apply to all, are they not going to be so vague as to be rendered meaningless?”

“I really welcome devolution and look forward to a time when every local area really wants a mayor. I have tabled a number of amendments and new clauses, which I will go through in turn. First, on the question of commissioners, I have to say that I disagree completely with the hon. Member for Guildford (Zöe Franklin) in…”

“What about having regional standards as a midway point? James, you made the point that the authorities in Manchester cannot agree, but if the power goes to the mayor or the combined authority, as is the situation in London to some extent, would that be a halfway house? Would that be a good idea or should we just go the…”

“I was a bit concerned that we seem to be using arrested, charged and convicted interchangeably—”

“Do you think it could ever be a legitimate strategy to have slightly easier-to-achieve standards in order to attract drivers because you have an undersupply? Would that ever be a consideration?”

“This is probably specifically to Arooj, although others can join in: why do you think some licensing authorities decide to adopt lower standards than others?”

“Yes, because they are very different things, including from the perspective of the driver. At what stage do you think that information should be passed across?”

“I was wondering about the complaints that come in. Presumably, some complaints come in via the app because a passenger thinks that is the easiest and simplest way for them, and some complaints you will be told about from licensing authorities. Are they very different, the complaints you are getting from those two angle…”

“The answer cannot be “all of them”. If you think it is all of them, try to rank it a bit.”

“We have heard from some local taxi firms that feel they face unfair competition from the larger app-based private hire platforms. To start with, who do you feel that you are competing with? Are you competing with each other? Are you competing with ABC taxis from somewhere or other, or are you competing with the taxis o…”

“I, too, thank John Tizard for his tireless work in securing extra resources for Bedfordshire police. I tend to agree that the mayoral model is the best way forward. Does the Minister agree that it is vital that we redouble our efforts to move at real pace to ensure there is a mayor in every area of England, rather than…”

“Our buses report asked your Department to consider adopting an ambition for local transport authorities to provide a minimum level of public transport connectivity based on settlement types. You rejected that recommendation, saying that it would be very challenging. What is your evidence that it would be very challengi…”

“I do not think that our recommendation called for that. Is it your view that a national ambition is always going to be incompatible with local decision making?”

“Do you think that the cost recovery model is the right one for today, or do you think that perhaps these fees and charges could be used as a demand management tool?”

“We are always very grateful for the prompt and detailed responses that we get to our reports, but we have noticed that the nuance of what we are suggesting in our recommendations is sometimes perhaps overlooked, and we get some answers that are at a bit of a tangent. Maybe I could give you two examples. In our street w…”

“Can I just press on our bus recommendation? It was recommendation 7, which is the one that I was just talking about, in terms of mandating local transport authorities to publish the transparent methodology. I was a bit confused, to be honest, as to why that was completely rejected, given that we had already had a lette…”

“That is fantastic. In your response, it says that you want to see a better standard of public transport right across the country. It is just that there does not seem to be much of a description as to what that would mean for a passenger. Does that mean frequency, reliability or accessibility? Do the Government have tar…”