House of Commons Hansard Debates for 11 Jun 1990

Mr. Eggar : In 1986-87 £750,000 was spent on press advertising on the action for jobs campaign ; £500,000 was spent of radio advertising ; £400,000 was spent on outdoor advertising ; £600,000 was spent on exhibition material ; £50,000 was spent on research ; and £950,000 was spent on presentation.

Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how much of the total expenditure on the action for jobs campaign in 1988-89 was spent on (a) press advertising and (b) radio advertising.

Mr. Eggar : In 1988-89, £77,000 was spent on press advertising for the action for jobs campaign and £35,000 on radio advertising.

Wages Councils

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will place in the Library a copy of the questionnaire sent to wages council establishments to check compliance with the Wages Act 1986.

Mr. Nicholls : There are two questionnaires sent to wages council establishments to check compliance with the Wages Act 1986--one for catering establishments and the other for non-catering

establishments. I have arranged for both to be placed in the Library.

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what are the reasons for not pursuing arrears of wages councils' payments in all cases except those which are not pursued at the worker's request ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Nicholls : Specific information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. In the small minority of cases where the wages inspectorate decides not to pursue arrears the decision is taken only after careful consideration of all the circumstances, including the likelihood of success bearing in mind such factors as the employers' ability to pay and the adequacy of evidence.

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average fine imposed on employers found to be committing wages council offences in 1989.

Mr. Nicholls : The average fine imposed per employer was £305.50.

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the numbers of workers covered by wages councils in each wages inspectorate division for 1989.

Mr. Nicholls : The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he will take to reduce the

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underpayment of wages and other offences committed under wages council legislation which are attributed to ignorance or inadvertence.

Mr. Nicholls : Measures designed to inform employers about statutory obligations on minimum pay include the provision of information in employer and business guides, talks and advice given by the wages inspectorate to individuals and groups, and the maintenance of a register of employers in scope of wages councils and to whom wages orders are sent. Given the very high level of compliance with wages orders these measures are considered adequate.

Wages Inspectorate

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will provide information on all employees of the wages inspectorate division of the Department of Employment broken down by grade, sex and race.

Mr. Nicholls : Following is the information :


Grade                    |Male    |Female  |Ethnic           

                                           |minority         

                                           |origin           

-------------------------------------------------------------

7                        |1       |-       |-                

Senior executive officer |7       |1       |-                

Higher executive officer |13      |1       |-                

Executive officer        |37      |25      |-                

Administrative officer   |14      |23      |3                

Administrative assistant |-       |5       |-                

Typist                   |-       |1       |-

Disabled People (Employment Quotas)

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Stretford of 21 February, Official Report, column 825, if he will list the criteria used to grant quota exemption permits under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944.

Mr. Eggar : Instructions to disablement resettlement officers require that they consider : (i) the availability of suitable registered disabled people ; and (ii) the degree of commitment shown by employers towards meeting their obligations under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944.

TRANSPORT

Road and Rail Investment

14. Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much will be invested in road and rail schemes over the next three years.

Mr. Parkinson : We expect that over the next three years some £6.2 billion will be invested in rail and underground schemes. In the same period £5.7 billion will be invested in the national road network and a further £2 billion on local roads.

Airline Competition

15. Mr. Lester : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to create a level playing field of competition on United Kingdom domestic aviation trunk routes out of Heathrow.

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23. Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to create a level playing field of competition on United Kingdom domestic aviation trunk routes out of Heathrow.

Mr. Parkinson : It is very important that competition on our domestic routes--as on international ones--should be fair and in the interests of users. If there is any suggestion that competition is being distorted by unfair practices, there now exist expedited procedures for dealing with any complaint an airline puts forward, within a matter of weeks.

51. Sir Marcus Fox : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to meet the European Commissioner responsible for competition to discuss airline policy.

75. Mr. Speed : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to meet the European Commissioner responsible for competition to discuss airline competition policy.

Mr. McLoughlin : My right hon. Friend saw the Commissioner at the last EC Transport Council meeting in March when they discussed aviation competition issues. My right hon. Friend expects to see the Commissioner again at the next meeting later this month.

36. Sir George Young : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next hopes to meet the chairman of British Airways to discuss airline competition policy.

52. Sir Peter Emery : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next hopes to meet the chairman of British Airways to discuss airline competition policy.

Mr. McLoughlin : I meet the Chairman from time to time, and our discussions cover a range of issues.

31. Mr. Thornton : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to create a level playing field of competition on United Kingdom domestic aviation trunk routes out of Heathrow.

Mr. McLoughlin : It is very important that competition on our domestic routes--as on international ones--should be fair and in the interests of users. If there is any suggestion that competition is being distorted by unfair practices, there now exist procedures for dealing with any complaint an airline puts forward, within a matter of weeks.

27. Sir Charles Morrison : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the chairman of British Midland Airways to discuss airline competition in the United Kingdom.

33. Mr. Marland : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the chairman of British Midland Airways to discuss airline competition policy.

44. Sir Giles Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the chairman of British Midland Airways to discuss airline competition policy.

39. Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the chairman of British Midland Airways to discuss airline competition policy in Great Britain.

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Mr. McLoughlin : I meet the chairman from time to time, and our discussions cover a range of issues.

Freight

16. Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of freight is carried by rail in (a) Great Britain, (b) the United States of America and (c) the European Community countries.

Mr. Freeman : In 1987, the latest year for which international comparisons are available, the proportion of freight tonnes lifted by rail in Great Britain was 8 per cent. The average for the European Community was 8 per cent. We do not have a comparable figure for the United States of America.

Dangerous Dogs

17. Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to ban dangerous dogs from public transport.

Mr. Freeman : No. Public transport operators already have powers to refuse dangerous dogs.

Airshows (Regulations)

18. Mr. Key : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review regulations in force at air shows to which the public are admitted ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. McLoughlin : The current regulations concerning safety at air shows at which more than 500 spectators are expected, article 56 of the air navigation order 1989, first came into force on 31 January 1989. The regulations are kept under constant review.

SOLAS '90 Regulations

19. Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a statement regarding the progress of negotiations on the retrospective implementation of the SOLAS '90 regulations.

Mr. McLoughlin : A proposal to implement the SOLAS '90 regulations to existing ro-ro passenger ships was put to the maritime safety committee at IMO on 21 May. The committee referred the proposal for evaluation to a specialist sub-committee on stability matters. It is our intention to invite European maritime administrations to an early meeting to discuss the application of the SOLAS '90 residual stability standards to all existing ro-ro passenger ships.

Potholes

20. Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received in respect of the recommendations in the Horne report.

Mr. Atkins : We have received over 100 representations this year from Hon. Members and others seeking implementation of the Horne report, recommendations. We intend to introduce legislation to reform the Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950 at an early opportunity.

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Traffic Flow (Basingstoke)

21. Mr. Hunter : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on measures being taken to improve safety and the flow of traffic on roads in the Basingstoke area.

Mr. Atkins : Most roads in the Basingstoke area are the responsibility of Hampshire county council as local highway authority. Trunk roads, for which my Department is responsible, are confined to the A339 and the M3 motorway.

Preparations for the A339 Basingstoke northern bypass stage 3 dualling scheme, to improve the 2.5 mile length between the Reading road and Roman road junctions, are now well advanced. We hope to start main works next spring for completion by late summer 1992. The national programme also includes major schemes on the A339 for providing a grade separated junction at the present Black Dam roundabout at Basingstoke, and for improving the length of about 7 miles between Basingstoke and the planned Headley bypass. For both these schemes, the roads report "Trunk Roads, England : Into the 1990s" gives a target date of 1993 for the next key preparation stage, announcement of preferred route.

We have no current plans for improving the M3 in the Basingstoke area.

London Transport

22. Mr. Livingstone : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the chair of London Transport to discuss improvements in London transport.

Mr. Freeman : My right hon. Friend and I regularly discuss such matters with the chairman of London Regional Transport.

25. Mr. Carrington : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much London Regional Transport has proposed to him to be invested to modernise the network.

Mr. Freeman : In last year's Autumn Statement, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a 115 per cent. increase in Government grant to London Regional Transport for the three years to 1992- 93, which is sufficient to allow them to invest £2.2 billion. I am of course unable to anticipate the contents of this year's Autumn Statement.

Channel Tunnel

24. Mr. Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration is being given to the effects of the channel tunnel on future rail and road investment.

Mr. Freeman : The effect of the channel tunnel on road investment is fully taken into account in the national roads programme. Planning and operation of rail services are matters for British Rail.

Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what security checks will passengers and baggage using the channel tunnel go through and at what point in the journey.

Mr. Freeman : The Government take very seriously the need to protect the Tunnel and those who will use it. A security check regime will be required. It would not be appropriate for me to disclose the details of the proposed security arrangements.

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26. Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussion he has had with British Rail on the route of the channel tunnel rail link.

35. Mr. Jacques Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will make a statement on the current position in relation to plans for a high-speed rail link through Kent.

54. Mr. Gerald Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met the chairman of British Rail ; and whether they discussed the channel tunnel rail link.

Mr. Freeman : Since November last year British Rail has been discussing the proposed channel tunnel high speed rail link with Eurorail Ltd. with a view to forming a joint venture. The parties have kept the Department in touch with progress and we are now considering their proposals.

Bus Deregulation

28. Mr. Riddick : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on bus deregulation in West Yorkshire.

Mr. Freeman : Following deregulation, bus mileage in West Yorkshire increased by 7 per cent., with improvements in frequencies, the introduction of minibuses, more operators and a reduction in tender prices.

48. Mr. Patchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has on the effects of bus deregulation on reliability and quality of service ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Freeman : The competition introduced by deregulation encourages operators to provide more reliable and better quality services. As a safeguard, traffic commissioners have powers to place restrictions on an operator's licence for various reasons including failure to operate services as registered and inadequate maintenance arrangements. These powers were exercised for these and other reasons on 150 occasions up to March 1989.

East Coast Electrification

29. Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the estimated rate of return on British Rail's investment in electrifying the east coast route to Edinburgh.

42. Mr. Sillars : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the estimated rate of return on British Rail's investment in electrifying the east coast route to Edinburgh.

46. Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the estimated rate of return on British Rail's investment in electrifying the east coast route to Edinburgh.

59. Mr. Andrew Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the estimated rate of return on British Rail's investment in electrifying the east coast route to Edinburgh.

Mr. Freeman : The electrification of the east coast main line for InterCity services was approved by Ministers on 27

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July 1984, on the basis that the scheme met the then normal criteria of a 7 per cent. financial return for investment in BR's commercial sectors.

45. Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met British Rail to discuss its proposals for the completion of electrification of the east coast main line between Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Mr. Freeman : British Rail at present has no proposals for the electrification of the line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. I understand that ScotRail has appointed a project manager to review the possibilities for extending electrification in Scotland.

Airport Security

30. Mr. Corbett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will commission an inquiry into British airport security, in the light of the United States report on PanAm Flight 103.

Mr. McLoughlin : I do not consider any further inquiry to be necessary. The disaster is the subject of a major police investigation, which covers the aviation security aspects at Heathrow. The air accident investigation branch is investigating the immediate cause of the crash. The Lord Advocate has announced that it is his view that a fatal accident inquiry should be held. The Department has carried out a thorough review of its aviation security requirements and a number of far-reaching improvements have been introduced or are in train. And the Transport Select Committee has examined airport security in the light of the disaster. It has published its report and the Government's response.

Diesel Emissions

32. Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals his Department has to tighten the limits on diesel emissions.

Mr. Atkins : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 21 May 1990 at column 5.

How to Meet the Demand"

34. Mr. Ground : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the issues raised in the document "How to Meet the Demand" at Heathrow, a copy of which has been sent to him.

Mr. McLoughlin : My right hon. Friend is reflecting on the proposals made by British Midland Airways, which raise environmental issues requiring careful consideration.

Network SouthEast

37. Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of Network SouthEast's investment is for schemes situated inside Greater London.

Mr. Freeman : Network SouthEast's investment cannot readily be disaggregated geographically. Network SouthEast operates a network of routes which radiate from London to various parts of the South East and the majority of their investment is by line of route. Because Network SouthEast's primary function is to move

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commuters into and out of central London each day, virtually all line of route investment, eg resignalling and new rolling stock, will benefit Greater London either directly (insofar as part of the route is inside Greater London) or indirectly (by providing a more reliable and efficient service generally to London). Some expenditure, for example on station modernisation and smaller infrastructure works, is specific to a particular location outside Greater London, but this forms only a small part of Network SouthEast's £1.2 billion three-year investment programme. However, over the next five years, investment of some £700 million in new Networker trains and associated infrastructure work is planned for south east inner suburban services the benefits of this will fall almost wholly within Greater London.

71. Mr. Boateng : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of Network SouthEast's investment is funded from the public purse.

Mr. Freeman : Over the next three years, Network SouthEast plans to invest some £1.2 billion, out of a total BR investment programme of over £3.7 billion. BR's overall investment programme will be funded from both internal and external sources. Internal sources (including receipts from the sale of assets owned by the taxpayer through BR and funding through the revenue account and also linking capital improvements) will account for some 45 per cent. of the total programme of £3.7 billion. External sources of funding are classified as public expenditure and comprise revenue subsidy paid by the Government and borrowing, principally from the National Loans Fund. These external funding sources will account for the remaining 57 per cent. of the programme. British Rail's sectors, such as Network SouthEast, do not have audited accounts and the public expenditure figures are not broken down between them.

Eastbourne

38. Mr. Gow : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make an official visit to Eastbourne by train.

Mr. Freeman : My right hon. Friend or I will be happy to do so when a suitable opportunity arises.

Traffic Growth (London)

40. Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what forecast he is now using for projecting traffic growth in London.

Mr. Atkins : We do not forecast traffic growth in London as a whole. Specific forecasts are made for individual trunk road schemes. These tend to be lower than the 1989 national road traffic forecast, which covers the whole of Great Britain.

Travelling Safety

41. Miss Widdecombe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures he proposes to improve public awareness of safety while travelling.

Mr. Atkins : We launched the "Safety on the Move" campaign on 1 May with the express purpose of improving public awareness of safety while travelling on all forms of transport. I want to concentrate the attention of every

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individual on what he or she can do for their own safety and the safety of others. The campaign has the support of a wide range of transport organisations and operators.

London Docklands

43. Mr. Ian Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress is being made in developing the transport infrastructure in London docklands.

Mr. Freeman : The docklands light railway is to be completly resignalled so as to improve reliability and to cope with the greatly increased service levels planned for the 1990s. Additional trains now entering service will double capacity to Tower Gateway from this summer, and a further fleet will be available in time for the inception of single- track running to Bank early next year. The second tunnel to Bank is on course for completion late in 1991, and following the normal commissioning period a full service should commence early in 1992. Construction of the Beckton extension is underway for completion by the end of 1992, and LRT are continuing their evaluation of the case for a possible further extension to Lewisham.

A Bill is now before this House for the first major Underground line in a quarter of a century, for the Jubilee line to run from Green Park via Westminster, Waterloo and London Bridge to the Surrey Docks, Canary Wharf, the Greenwich Peninsula, Canning Town, West Ham and Stratford. Provided Royal Assent is received by mid-1991, I would expect the new line to be in service by the beginning of 1996. Network South East is now reconsidering its proposed renovation of Stratford Station so as to take full account of the Jubilee line extension. The main line platforms are to be refurbished so as to allow calls by most outer surburban and InterCity services, and there will also be new through services from May 1991 to Stansted airport and Cambridge. Network South East is discussing with the London Docklands Development Corporation implementation early next year of a scheme for waterproofing and renovation of the Connaught tunnel so as to improve reliability of the North London line.

LRT is considering its evaluation of the case for possible extensions of the East London line northwards to Dalston and southwards to Peckham Rye and East Dulwich. Subject to confirmation of a satisfactory investment case and appropriate funding arrangements, including contributions from developers who will benefit from the scheme, LRT hope to be able to deposit a Bill in November.

LRT is now out to tender for a new express bus service from Waterloo and London Bridge to the Isle of Dogs and Leamouth for which LDDC and a consortium of Docklands employers are contributing towards the first year's operational costs. London Buses and Docklands Minibus are continuing to tailor their services to improve reliability and links from Docklands, especially to the City. Riverbus continues to operate a frequent, fast service on the Thames between central London and the Docklands and Greenwich with separate services to Chelsea harbour and London City airport. Season tickets and a tourist rover ticket have recently been introduced. All of the LDDC's Docklands Highways in the Royal Docks are now in at least partial use, bringing high quality road access from the M25 to within sight of London City airport. The first direct road link between the Isle of Dogs and the Royal Docks--the Lower Lea crossing is under

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