Chamber and committees

I very much take that point.

Mark Ruskell can ask a short question to one person.

Thank you. The next questions come from Jackie Dunbar.

One of the reasons why Abellio lost the contract was its failure to meet that target. I remember having lots of discussions with you about that in the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee in 2019. Now, we have fewer trains, so there should be fewer problems, which means that we should be hitting the targets, but we are not. Was it wrong to criticise Abellio? It seems that you are blaming the failure on the weather, which Abellio was never given the opportunity of doing. I do not know the answer; I am struggling to understand.

When do you imagine that you will reach the target that you aspire to?

Okay. It seems that I am hearing exactly the same story that I heard in 2019, just in a slightly different guise.

I seem to remember that the SQUIRE fund did a lot of good to many stations.

Monica, did you want to come in on that?

Monica Lennon has some questions.

The attitude is interesting. I had not realised that, although chains were pulled to stop the train on numerous occasions, there had not been one conviction. It seems that a complete mind switch is needed on what is acceptable or unacceptable on trains. We heard about spitting and feet on seats. Will you do anything to address that? It cannot just be about other people. You have to push on that, because it is all contrary to the culture of respect for the staff who have to operate the railways.