House of Commons Hansard Debates for 29 Nov 1993

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Teachers' Pensions Agency

The Buying Agency

Transport and Security Services

Transport Research Laboratory

United Kingdom Passport Agency

Valuation Office

Vehicle Certification Agency

Vehicle Inspectorate

Veterinary Medicines Directorate

War Pensions Agency

Warren Spring Laboratory

Wilton Park Conference Centre

TRANSPORT

Road Construction

10. Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give the total cost of proposed budget for new roads over the next five years ; and by how much it has been reduced as a result of recent discussions with the Treasury.

Mr. MacGregor : I expect to spend over £1.3 billion in 1993-94 on new construction of national roads in England. As for future years, I cannot, of course, pre-empt tomorrow's unified Budget statement.

Buses, London

12. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to develop an overall strategic policy for London following the decision not to proceed with deregulation of bus services in London.

Mr. Norris : Our strategy for transport in London focuses on three priorities : improving the management of the road, rail and bus networks ; modernising and where necessary expanding the provision of transport infrastructure ; and making greater use of private sector resources and skills. The policies for buses which we announced earlier this month are fully consistent with that approach.

Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many passengers are transported on London area buses on an average day ; what was the figure five years ago ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Norris : In 1992-93 the number of passenger journeys on LT buses was 1,127 million--3.09 million per day. In 1987-88 there were 1,211 million--3.31 million per day.

Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of the net receipt which his Department expects for the privatisation of each of the subsidiary companies of London Buses Ltd.

Mr. Norris : The Department's estimate of the net receipts from the sale of the London Buses Ltd. subsidiary companies is commercially confidential and thus cannot be made publicly available.

Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the timetable for tendering all the London Transport bus routes which have not yet been put out to tender.

Mr. Norris : The timetable for tendering the remaining London Transport bus routes which have not been put out to tender is currently under consideration.

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Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the implications of the proposed privatisation of the subsidiary companies of London Buses Ltd. for the pension fund of current and former London Transport employees.

Mr. Norris : The proposed privatisation of the London Buses Ltd. subsidiary companies will not affect the pensions of former employees of the subsidiary companies. The pension position of current employees of those companies is now under consideration. I recognise the concerns of employees about their pension arrangements, and will soon give London Transport guidance on the treatment of these in the privatisation.

Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of the minimum subsidy requirement in 1994-95 for London Transport bus services ; and what comparable level of subsidy has been required for each year since 1987-88.

Mr. Norris : The total of revenue grant support for London Transport bus services, including tendered bus services, for the years 1987-88 to 1992-93, was as follows :


          |£ million          

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

1987-88   |83.0               

1988-89   |79.3               

1989-90   |67.7               

1990-91   |88.3               

1991-92   |101.9              

1992-93   |100.6

The current forecast for 1993-94 is £52.1 million. The amount of revenue grant support for 1994-95 will be determined in due course in consultation with London Transport.

Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to specifying a minimum reserve price for each of the subsidiary companies of London Buses Ltd. which he is proposing to privatise.

Mr. Norris : There are no plans to specify a minimum reserve price for the subsidiary companies of London Buses Ltd.

Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the current book value of (a) the vehicles, (b) the garages and (c) all other assets of each of the subsidiary companies of London Buses Ltd.

Mr. Norris : At 31 March 1993, the net book value of the vehicles within the London Buses Ltd. group was £164 million ; the net book value of the property was £143 million ; and the net book value of the remaining assets was £21 million. These valuations reflect the current value or replacement cost of the assets, reduced by the proportion of the life of the asset which is already expired, in line with normal public sector accounting practice.

West Coast Main Line

13. Mr. Gallie : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will next meet with the chairman of British Rail to discuss investment in the west coast line.

Mr. Freeman : My right hon. Friend regularly meets both the chariman of British Rail and the chairman

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designate of Railtrack to discuss current railway issues. Further announcements about investment in the west coast main line will follow the outcome of the public expenditure survey.

Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the conclusions of the Hambros study into possible joint public/private sector financing initiatives for the west coast main line.

Mr. Freeman : I expect to be able to do so very shortly.

Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the detailed terms of reference of the Hambros research project into joint private sector/public sector alternatives for financing the west coast main line project ; when the Hambros report was received by his Department ; when it will be made public ; and what amount was paid to Hambros for the research work.

Mr. Freeman : Hambros's remit is to examine the scope for using private finance to modernise the infrastructure of the west coast main line. We expect to receive the Hambros report shortly, but no decision has yet been taken concerning publication. Hambros's final invoice has yet to be received.

Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next intends to make an official journey on the InterCity train between London and Carlisle.

Mr. Freeman : I last travelled to Carlisle on the west coast main line on Monday 14 June. I intend to repeat the journey again in the coming months.

Airport Privatisation

14. Mr. Streeter : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what incentives he intends to give local authorities to privatise their airports.

26. Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his policy on encouraging local authorities to privatise their airports.

Mr. MacGregor : BAA has proved that the private sector is ready and willing to provide capital investment for airports. I have therefore reduced the amount allocated to local authority airports to the level necessary for safety and security measures. The local authority owners, therefore, have every incentive to consider privatisation.

Railway Electrification

15. Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his policy on railway electrification.

Mr. Freeman : Under our plans for restructuring the railway, it will be for Railtrack, in the first instance, to consider the case for the electrification of any particular line.

M27

16. Mr. Denham : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to announce the appointment of consultants to study the widening of the M27 motorway.

Mr. Key : The widening is being considered within the review of scheme priorities announced by my right hon. Friend in August. Any decision about the appointment of consultants will have to await the outcome.

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London-Colchester Railway Line

17. Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures will be pursued to improve services for travellers on the London- Colchester line.

Mr. Freeman : The bulk of London to Colchester services are provided by the Great Eastern route group of Network SouthEast, which is already one of the best performing lines.

In addition, the route is currently undergoing a major resignalling scheme, at a cost of £100 million. When this is completed I expect to see performance improve even further.

Hazardous Freight

18. Mr. Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to subsidise the Trainload Freight division of British Rail in order to arrest the switch towards road transport of flammable petroleum based products.

Mr. Freeman : Under the Railways Act 1993, a new environmental grant is to be introduced next April to help marginal rail freight flows with the payment of track access charges. In addition, all freight operators, including BR, will be eligible for the enhanced freight facilities grants scheme.

Jubilee Line Extension

19. Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure fair play in the allocation of Jubilee line construction contracts.

Mr. Norris : The award of contracts for the Jubilee line extension (JLE) is entirely a matter for London Underground Ltd. LUL has a duty to secure competitive tenders in a proper, legal fashion, having regard for EC directives, and to secure best value for taxpayers' money.

Channel Tunnel Rail Link

20. Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he now expects construction of the channel tunnel fast link to commence.

Mr. Freeman : Construction commencement depends on the progress of a hybrid Bill through Parliament. We expect that a Bill will be ready for introduction to Parliament next autumn.

Seat Belts

21. Mr. Spring : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to make mandatory the installation of seat belts in buses and coaches in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Key : The Department is currently looking at the circumstances surrounding the recent tragic coach and minibus accidents and is reviewing the full technical and cost implications of the compulsory fitment of seat belts in minibuses and coaches. It would not be right to take any decisions before this work has been completed.

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Transport Expenditure, London

22. Mr. Duncan Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of public spending on transport in London is spent on roads ; and what proportion on public transport.

Mr. Norris : In 1992-93 public investment in London Transport, Network SouthEast and docklands light railway amounted to around £1, 400 million, while expenditure by central Government and local authorities on roads in London, excluding M25, was about £400 million. Expenditure on Network SouthEast benefited a broader area than London alone.

Socially Necessary Railway Lines

23. Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for how many years a subsidy for socially necessary rail lines can be guaranteed under current Treasury rules ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Freeman : It will be for the franchising director to negotiate contracts with franchisees, and to make such subsidy payments as are specified in those contracts from within his budget. In doing so he will be in no different a position from any other public sector body in entering into contracts which may run beyond the normal annual period for which Parliament votes expenditure.

A5

24. Mr. Tredinnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had recently concerning improvements to the A5, Watling street from the A5-M69 junction to the Nuneaton Longshoot junction.

Mr. Key : The Department has recently met landowners who may be affected by a possible improvement of the A5-Nutts lane junction at Hinckley. Any scheme would be aimed at reducing congestion and the number of accidents which presently occur at, and in the vicinity of, the junction.

Toll Roads

25. Mr. Fabricant : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the current position regarding the development of toll roads funded by the private sector.

Mr. Key : The new Dartford-Thurrock river crossing was completed in October 1991, and work has begun on the second Severn crossing. Draft orders for the Birmingham northern relief road were published in June this year ; the public inquiry is expected to start next spring. We shall be considering further the possibility of involving private finance in the planned Birmingham western orbital route after we have announced our conclusions on the possibility of direct charging for existing motorways in the light of responses to the Green Paper "Paying for Better Motorways".

Roads, South-East Essex

28. Sir Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to improve road communication in south-east Essex.

Mr. Key : With regard to the trunk road network in south-east Essex, my Department is pressing ahead with its plan to improve the A127 between M25 and the new two-level junction at Rayleigh Weir.

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In respect of local roads, Essex county council has identified three major schemes as a result of their south-east East Essex traffic study. The county council has bid for transport supplementary grant funding to start work on improving the northern section of the A130, between A12 and A132, in 1994-95. It has also bid for advance design costs on the eastern section of the A127 Southend-Rochford bypass and credit approval for a third major project in the area, the B1013 access to Southend.

A decision on TSG funding will be announced in December.

East Coast Main Line

29. Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has held with ScotRail management relating to the electrification of the east coast main line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

Mr. Freeman : I discussed Edinburgh and Aberdeen electrification matters with ScotRail management and Grampian regional council during my visit to Aberdeen in September.

I understand that ScotRail and a consortium of local authorities are jointly funding a study of the feasibility of the scheme. A report on the first phase of the study is expected in spring 1994.

M1

Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has plans to improve the M1 in the coming year.

Mr. Key : Our construction programme for 1994-5 has still to be settled.

Trans-Pennine Study

Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to give the Government's response to the trans-Pennine study.

Mr. Key : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 29 October 1993, Official Report, column 807.

Commuter Trains

Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of trains on Network SouthEast commuter services into London were late in the latest 12 months for which figures are available.

Mr. Freeman : For the 12-month period to 5 November 1993, 89 per cent. of Network SouthEast's morning and evening peak services trains arrived within five minutes of the advertised time. This includes some trains which did not begin or end their journeys in central London. The comparable figure for the previous 12 months was 85.6 per cent. There has therefore been a significant improvement in the quality of service for passengers.

NAO and PAC

Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many files marked "Not for National Audit Office eyes" are held by his Department ; and how many are marked "Not for Public Accounts Committee eyes".

Mr. Norris : There are 684 files in my Department--out of a total of 1,331,002--marked "Not to be seen by NAO

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without reference to the appropriate Head of Division", sometimes abbreviated to "Not for NAO eyes". These figures refer to individual jackets--file parts. For each NAO study, a number of divisions in different locations may be involved and each may possess a file with a number of parts.

The marking "Not for NAO eyes" is used in accordance with an agreement between the Treasury and the National Audit Office, under which documents relating to the handling of relations between Departments and the NAO and PAC are not automatically available to the NAO while they are current.

There is no marking "Not for PAC eyes".

London Underground

Mr. Bendall : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to ensure that London Underground has sufficient resources to ensure the efficient running of the capital's underground system and the safety of passengers ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Norris : I cannot comment on the Government's expenditure proposals for London Transport in advance of the unified Budget on 30 November.

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement in respect of the derailments on the Central line at (a) Loughton on 8 November and (b) Epping on 1 November of the London underground.

Mr. Norris : This is an operational matter on which London Underground Ltd., LUL, is best placed to comment. I understand from it that the immediate cause of these derailments was very rapid rail wear on sections of the Central line. LUL's engineers have now replaced the worst affected section of track. They are also investigating why it has worn so quickly. The interface between rails and wheels of trains is a complex technical issue, but track lubrication may be an important factor.

Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the lines affected andestimate the number of train services delayed as a consequence of the power failure on the London underground on 24 November.

Mr. Norris : I have asked London Transport for an urgent, full report on the circumstances of the power failure, to include what actions it proposes to ensure that there is no recurrence.

M65

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations have been made to him regarding implications on jobs and investment prospects in north-east Lancashire arising from an eastwards extension of the M65.

Mr. Key : Some of the many responses to our consultation on the trans-Pennine study indicated that any extension of the M65 eastwards should help to stimulate economic activity in the east Lancashire area generally.

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Pension Funds

Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what are the exact sums remaining in the railway pensions fund ; and what is the actuarial assessment of the amount needed to meet the pension benefits of past and present employees.

Mr. Freeman : This is a matter for the British Rail Pension Trustee Company and the individual management committees of the various BR pension schemes, as appropriate.

Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what arrangements he has made for adjudication in the case of a dispute between actuaries working for the railway pension fund and actuaries working for the Government.

Mr. Freeman : In the unlikely event of a difference of opinion between the actuaries, it will be for the trustees, or my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State where he is involved, to reach their own views after taking whatever advice they consider appropriate.

Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the measures he is taking to safeguard pension funds in cases where privatised transport industries become insolvent.

Mr. Freeman : Where transport industries have been privatised, measures have been taken to safeguard the accrued rights of pensioners and active members of the industries' pension schemes up to the point of privatisation. When employees move into the private sector, any pension scheme operated by their new employer will continue to be subject to the general legal framework which applies to all such occupational pension schemes. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security has responsibility for such matters and announced in the House, on 3 November, that he will be issuing discussion papers as a basis for detailed exchanges with interested parties on matters arising from recommendations of the Pensions Law Review Committee.

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