Forum response to Great Western Franchise Consultation

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Still a typo in the second paragraph. One of your usuals grahame.

advise instead of advice. 

[grahame]

Still a typo in the second paragraph. One of your usuals grahame.

advise instead of advice. 

Corrected in my source document - thanks for the advi[cs]e of the issue (again!  ) where I will be pasting the signatures and publishing a final checking .pdf here tomorrow.

[grahame]

Final document with signatures added is at:

http://gwr.passenger.chat/gwf_cs_final.pdf
also works at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/gwf_cs_final.pdf

and I will submit to DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) team via email at around this time (06:30) tomorrow.

Late spelling mistakes notified (here and personal message) corrected, and I found one other through a spell checker.  One forum name modified by removal of a comma, as in the format used it looked like two names! (My) postal address added (consultation asks for that).   As noted earlier, although some forum members are happy for their real names to be included, some have not given any such indication and for consistency and clarity I have stuck with a standard format.  There is nothing to stop members writing in themselves with their real names with a copy of the .pdf and saying "I support this".

[ellendune]

As noted earlier, although some forum members are happy for their real names to be included, some have not given any such indication and for consistency and clarity I have stuck with a standard format.  There is nothing to stop members writing in themselves with their real names with a copy of the .pdf and saying "I support this".

My understanding was that in liking the post we were agree to our real names being used.

[grahame]

As noted earlier, although some forum members are happy for their real names to be included, some have not given any such indication and for consistency and clarity I have stuck with a standard format.  There is nothing to stop members writing in themselves with their real names with a copy of the .pdf and saying "I support this".

My understanding was that in liking the post we were agree to our real names being used.

Hmmmm ....

Grahame, just a quick question.  When we like the post to add our signature to the document I assume you will adding our real names?  Personally I don't have a problem with that.

Thank you for that question.  I am planning to add forum names and NOT real names - otherwise we get really caught up in permissions, confidentiality and data protection stuff.  We don't even know some real names!

I am flattered that a number of members have given me, unsolicited, permission and even encouragement to add their real names.  Alas, that becomes a whole can of worms checking and making sure I get nearly 40 signatures exactly right - some signed, some not; the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) has this section about the confidentiality of responses:

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

●● If you want information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence.

●● In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department for Transport.

●● We will process your personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and in the majority of circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties. Individual consultation responses may be shared with the current franchisee (and/or bidders in any future franchise competition) in an anonymised format to assist them in the development of their proposals for the future franchise.

●● By providing personal data in response to this consultation, you consent to the Department for Transport, or third parties contracted to the Department for Transport, processing your personal data for the purpose of analysing responses to this consultation.

●● It would be very helpful to the Department for Transport if, as part of its analysis of responses to this consultation, it was able to take into account certain sensitive personal data that you may wish to provide in response to this consultation, for example details of any disability you have. In providing your responses to the Department for Transport by email or post please indicate whether you consent to the Department for Transport, or third parties contracted to the Department for Transport, processing your sensitive personal data for the purposes of analysing responses to this consultation.

Most Coffee Shop members are pragmatic and would accept a lack of back-to-back similar paragraphs about adding their names; one or two are of a pedantic mould (I'm a bit that way!!) and experience suggests I would likely have a lot of oil to poor on troubled waters if I made a single error.   Best take a route that's problem free - and that allows members who want their names to make a 'mark' at the DfT to send in a copy stating that they support and do not need to be anonymous to the DfT.

[SandTEngineer]

Grahame, Just a quick thank you from me for taking time to put this all together on behalf of the forum.  I know how time consuming it can be doing that.  Appologies also for not being able to contribute in a more positive way (due to unforseen circumstances).
SandTEngineer

[grahame]

Final document with signatures added is at:

http://gwr.passenger.chat/gwf_cs_final.pdf
also works at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/gwf_cs_final.pdf

and I will submit to DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) team via email at around this time (06:30) tomorrow.

Duly submitted ... and I will follow up here with updates / notification of response.   I would expect little more than an automated acknowledgement, bearing in mind the volume I expect them to be getting - but bearing in mind interaction with the DfT team leading this consultation, I would be amazed (and disappointed) if we don't see any evidence of consultation inputs being used to word and shape tender invitations and indeed contracts that follow and are implemented.

Grahame, Just a quick thank you from me for taking time to put this all together on behalf of the forum.  I know how time consuming it can be doing that. 

My pleasure - I actually enjoy it.   The enjoyment of what I do on public transport comes from seeing the results "on the ground" of what the whole team(s) I'm involved with can help positively achieve.    I am very much aware that the time I have been putting in on this (and some other industry inputs) over the past couple of months has meant that far too many other things have been left undone - and an apology is due to a number of people (including yourself) for a lack of response and [apparent] interest to a lot of work emailed through.   Another thread / topic over coming days should show just how useful that has been.

And a massive "Thank You" to ... everyone who has helped here.   I was going to start with some names - but then I went "and", "and", "and" and I knew it was going to be like a wedding invite list with people left off by my personal oversight, and perhaps the odd one or two included on purely political grounds.

I WILL finish, though, with a "Thank You" to Matt and Steve from the DfT who have been leading this process and who came to the eight public consultation meetings, listened positively, discussed, have helped all of us who attended formulate our views.   That's not a political "Thank You" - that's a personal thank you to them for helping to oil this stage of the process so well.   We oft forget that, paid and charged with a teak though they might be, our civil servants are also individuals just like you and me ... and together we can achieve so much if we understand this and where we're all coming from.

[rogerw]

My personal response has now been submitted

[grahame]

My personal response has now been submitted

Thank you ... and thank you to everyone who has submitted their responses too.   I have just completed my personal response as well.

[grahame]

Final document with signatures added is at:

http://gwr.passenger.chat/gwf_cs_final.pdf
also works at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/gwf_cs_final.pdf

and I will submit to DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) team via email at around this time (06:30) tomorrow.

Duly submitted ... and I will follow up here with updates / notification of response.   I would expect little more than an automated acknowledgement, bearing in mind the volume I expect them to be getting - but bearing in mind interaction with the DfT team leading this consultation, I would be amazed (and disappointed) if we don't see any evidence of consultation inputs being used to word and shape tender invitations and indeed contracts that follow and are implemented.

On Thursday evening last (4th October), our forum' entry to the Great Western franchise was placed third in the "under £500 project" category at the ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships) national awards in Glasgow.  Lee, BobM and myself were present there to collect a certificate on behalf of forum members.    Even being shortlisted was a hugely significant recognition of the forum by the ACoRP representing as they do the wider "real life"community and the Department for Transport.  And that recognition expands to cover Great Western too, who made the trip possible for us,  including us with all their shortlisted Community Rail Partnerships (perhaps w are really a virtual Community Rail Partnership ?) in hotel and dinner arrangements.   Our thanks to all, and also to rail industry partners (RDG^‡(resolve)) for helping with ticket provision for us to get to Glasgow.   Thank you (from me) to Lee and BobM too for all the time they and the rest of the admin and moderator team give the Coffee Shop - this trip was just the tip of the iceberg.

But most of all - thank YOU to our members and readers, without which this place would not exist.  That's the 40 signatories on the letter that was a part of the output of our "under £500" scheme, other inputs that discussions here helped you formulate, and the wider work we do to inform too.  Since submitting the letter, some of our suggestions have been acted upon - I note the objectives of the new direct award have been modified to talk about "time and destinations required" and that the franchise is not to be split;  granted, our input was part of a flood of similar requests (I am not claiming full credit here  ) - but every little helps,and those 40 informed names have helped us help the DfT make decisions in the direction that suits us the passenger s and customers.

Our certificate ... and a copy of the page in the awards booklet handed out upon event conclusion telling of all placed entries and winners

Further pictures from the evening (as it was happening) posted by BignoseMac as our agent at home in Somerset here - and official pictures to come in due course.  Copy of our entry to the awards at http://gwr.passenger.chat/2018-acorp-cs.pdf

Congratulations to EVERYONE who was shortlisted - or who won - on Thurday. Every one a dedicated rail supporter who has put in so much effort, every one a worth winner.

[TaplowGreen]

It's nice to see Dennis the Menace still going strong after all these years. Not sure about his pink trousers though?

[grahame]

It's nice to see Dennis the Menace still going strong after all these years. Not sure about his pink trousers though?

I see the likeness.  I also see the likeness to the pile of trouble I got from on very high indeed, with legal threats, when there were comments made on the likeness of someone to the leader of North Korea.  OK - leave this one in place (and I have quoted it, so it remains anyway!) - just remember not to make fun of people who don't make such fun of themselves.  Thanks.

[ChrisB]

Those legal threats were baseless.....

[grahame]

Those legal threats were baseless.....

Very likely - but considering they were made as representation of an organisation we wish to work closely with, the best approach was to take a forward looking and pragmatic view in that particular case; not a general precedent though.

[grahame]

From the Great Western Railway, Community Rail 2018 booklet that's been distributed to key volunteers on Community Rail lines right across the patch - a page describing the Coffee Shop's success at the ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships) awards in October.