Temporary West Coast franchise 'to be awarded to Virgin tomorrow' Mr McLoughlin had appointed businessman Sam Laidlaw to produce the report. After producing damning initial findings, which listed failings by the department, Mr Laidlaw presented his full report to the department last week. But with one of the suspended department officials, Kate Mingay, mounting a legal challenge to her suspension, Mr McLoughlin announced that the report would not be published until this week. Mr Laidlaw had been due to appear before the House of Commons Transport Committee this week, but MPs will now hear his evidence on December 18. The committee's chairman, Louise Ellman, criticised the department over the delay. FirstGroup had been due to take over the West Coast line on December 9. Following the franchise collapse, the RMT transport union had been pressing for the DfT to oversee the running of the West Coast line in the public sector, as is the case, for now, with the East Coast line.