My Lords, I will respond first to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Scriven. I will talk later about the Northern Hub and my perspective on it, having worked on it some years ago.
The amendment is not necessary because existing legislation already enables the Secretary of State to confer by order transport functions on a combined authority. In such circumstances, a combined authority
with strategic responsibilities is able to make representations about decisions that are likely to impact on its area and how it exercises those transport functions should it decide to do so. On the point about combined authorities being consulted, I can confirm that, wherever appropriate, the Government would expect to consult all local authorities, not just combined authorities, on new infrastructure in their area, whether that be transport or otherwise.
However, the Government must have discretion to take decisions about the future and prioritisation of national assets across the country, some of which—for instance rails and roads, to which the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, referred—run through many local authority areas. Of course we would expect to engage with local areas on the impact of such changes. One of the advantages a combined authority brings is that it enables the Government to focus their engagement on issues such as transport with a single body that can represent its constituent authorities on strategic responsibilities across a wider area.
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The noble Lord, Lord Beecham, asked about the relationship with Highways England. The relationship would depend on the deal. For example, with the Sheffield deal agreed in December, the combined authority and the local enterprise partnership will have a key role in developing strategy with Highways England and Network Rail.
Returning to the Transport Secretary’s Statement of 25 June, this followed the publication of Network Rail’s annual report. To secure growth for the future the Government have set out the most ambitious programme since the Victorians—a £38 billion programme for enhancing and maintaining the current network. However, important aspects of Network Rail’s investment programme are costing more and taking longer and performance should have been better. The Transport Secretary has been clear that he wants it sorted out. This is not a process about cuts: after years of long-term underinvestment the Government are focused on securing the vital benefits that these schemes will provide. The Government’s enhancement programme is ambitious and stretching and needs to be replanned over a longer timescale to ensure that it remains deliverable and affordable. The Secretary of State has asked the new chair of Network Rail to report back to him in the autumn and he will update the other place.
I do not remember which noble Lord—I think it may have been the noble Lord, Lord Teverson—said that this scheme was announced very recently and has now been scrapped. As I said, I worked on the Northern Hub scheme some three or four years ago. The announcement was made in 2012 and some of it has been delivered. The noble Lord is right that it has been paused—not indefinitely delayed—at this point and I hope that there will shortly be a statement about its continuation.