| Updated:
DfT kept rail bids from civil servants
■ Transport officials were kept in the dark over the details of bids for the West Coast Main Line rail franchise, Department for Transport permanent secretary Philip Rutnam said yesterday. Rutnam told MPs that procurement rules meant he was not allowed to access key parts of the bids until the “latter part of July”. Transport minister Patrick McLoughlin told the Treasury select committee that the errors made during the process were “very regrettable”.