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Mr. David Chidgey (Eastleigh): On the industry's overall costs to the country, will the Minister clarify that in overall Government funding for the railway industry, the £2.4 billion from the national loan fund that was loaned to British Rail is mostly to be attributed to the cost of channel tunnel rail services rather than domestic services?

Mr. Watts: Not to the extent of £2.4 billion, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would not like to fall into the trap of defining worthwhile investment as only that which goes into the historic network and not into developing a railway for the 21st century.

Dr. Marek: On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Is it in order for Back-Bench Conservative Members to talk to the scribblers in the Box behind you on your right?

Madam Deputy Speaker: In general, it is not in order for a Member of Parliament to do so. It is understood practice that parliamentary private secretaries may pass information to a Minister. I cannot at the moment see what is happening behind me.

Dr. Marek: Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. With respect, would you please keep an eye to your right? This is not the first but the second time that a Back Bencher has gone to talk to the civil servants in the Box.

Mr. Toby Jessel (Twickenham): On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Mr. Andrew Robathan (Blaby): On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Madam Deputy Speaker: Order. I have given my ruling, and I do not expect to have to look behind me to see that it is obeyed.

Mr. Jessel: On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Is it in order for an hon. Member to refer to civil

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servants--who serve the whole of the country and are impartial in their politics--as "scribblers"? That is a most derogatory word aimed at people who cannot answer back, and it was an unworthy utterance by the hon. Member for Wrexham (Dr. Marek).

Madam Deputy Speaker: I doubt whether the word is precisely unparliamentary, but it falls below the standards that I would expect. I have noted a sense of ill humour in the House this morning that does nothing for the quality of debate, and I therefore invite the House to aspire to the higher standards, and not the lower ones.

Mr. Watts: They scribble extremely well, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The reduced public subsidy has bought better services. Scare story No. 3 was that services would be cut, but Thames Trains will provide a 30-minute service from London to Oxford--the very line used by the hon. Member for Oxford, East, which he has refused to welcome for his constituents--instead of a one-hour service. There are five more trains a day and faster journeys on Great Western, and the franchise for the west coast main line offers the prospect of journey times of two hours from London to Manchester. Midland MainLine plans to introduce dramatic increases in service levels--10 more services each weekday to and from Derby, 10 to Nottingham and 22 for Leicester.

Dr. Marek: Will the Minister give way?

Mr. Watts: I shall, but it must be for the last time.

Dr. Marek: I am grateful to the Minister--we have plenty of time. [Hon. Members: "You might have plenty of time."] Well, I might not have plenty of time--there might be no trains in operation. Why does the minimum passenger requirement stipulate two trains instead of three on the route between Euston and Holyhead? Four years ago, we had six trains.

Mr. Watts: The hon. Gentleman will know from the pattern of the franchises let so far that the core services provided are guaranteed in the passenger requirement. Let me remind him that the only absolute guarantee for a particular service under British Rail is one train a year. He will know that, in every case, the operators have continued to provide at least the level of service that they inherited and, in virtually every other case, they have put on additional services, or plan to do so.

Apart from improving the service to Oxford, Thames Trains, for example, will provide additional trains to Thatcham, Theale and Newbury and extra off-peak fast services from Paddington to Maidenhead in 1999. Better services will be provided between Reading and Gatwick, and journey times between Reading and Paddington will be improved. I could go through line after line and give examples of the way in which services are being improved, but pressure of time prevents me from doing so.

Scare story No. 4 came when the hon. Member for Hampstead and Highgate predicted that

"privatisation will lead to an investment drought in the rail industry".

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So how does she explain the new trains that will be provided by London, Tilbury and Southend?

Ms Glenda Jackson: When shall we see them?

Mr. Watts: Within three years, with the first cascade starting within nine months. Some £400 million of replacement rolling stock will be provided on South Eastern, new trains will be provided on the Gatwick Express, additional new trains will be provided by Midland MainLine and Chiltern, and refurbished high-speed trains will be provided by Midland MainLine and Great Western. In the case of Great Western, the first of those trains rolled out within six months of the franchise being let.

Railtrack is committed to spending £8 billion in the next five years--another £8 billion that we do not have to fight the Treasury for, and which will not come from the taxpayer's pocket. That drives another nail into the coffin of Labour's fantasy railway.

Mr. Bernard Jenkin: Does my hon. Friend agree that we can expect further investment to add to the figures that he has announced because, as privatisation continues, the process of developing the business will be dynamised? Is he aware that, following privatisation, the car industry is receiving such investment? Today, BMW has announced a £400 million investment in a new engine plant in the midlands. Is not that the sort of investment that we can expect in the railways in future?

Mr. Watts: My hon. Friend is completely right, and refers to the Hams Hall site in the west midlands, which has been developed as a rail freight and industrial site. I visited the site a few weeks ago, and saw that massive private investment is going there. It will generate more jobs when it is completed than were provided when it was a power station, and it is the most significant industrial development site in the west midlands. Rover BMW's announcement will be well received.

Great North Eastern plans to order two high-speed tilting trains to reduce journey times between Edinburgh and London from four and a half hours to three and a half hours, and it is refurbishing its existing high-speed trains. Railtrack's interim results, released today, show that it has increased its investment level by £100 million, or 25 per cent. In the first six months of this year, it has spent£0.5 billion, compared with £400 million last year, and it is therefore well in line with its guarantee to spend at least £1 billion a year on infrastructure.

Another of our opponents' tricks has been to tell people that fares would rocket under privatisation--that is scare story No. 5. I am pleased to say that the Government have ensured that key fares have been frozen to the retail prices index for three years from January this year, and will then fall below the RPI for the next four years. We can give guarantees to passengers on fares for the first time ever, and those guarantees will run into the 21st century. What have Labour and the Liberal Democrats said about fares? Have they said that they are too high? Have they said that they would lower them? What promises have they given to the passengers? Again, an incriminating silence has come from the Opposition. Thanks to our determination

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to introduce competition into the railways, passengers are now seeing rail companies vying with airlines to win their custom. That is why East Coast has a £29 return fare from Glasgow to London to compete with Easyjet.

Midland MainLine--stung by criticism that it was always cheaper for four people to travel by car than by rail--introduced "4Sight", a ticket allowing up to four people to travel anywhere on the network for £29. Connex South East and Connex South Central introduced a new discount during the school half-term, allowing unlimited travel on both networks for a five-day period for just£10 for an adult or £5 for a child.

Scare story No. 6 was that quality would suffer as a result of franchising. In the past few months, we have seen a range of commitments that franchisees are making to attract new customers to the railway. Franchisees have the incentives that they need to create a quality railway, and are improving passenger comfort in the drive to get people out of their cars and on to the trains.

Following the launch of its family coaches this summer, Great Western is introducing Business First, a ticket that covers car parking, tickets for the London underground and meal vouchers. Following the success of the "quiet zones" in standard-class coaches--where the use of mobile telephones and personal stereos is discouraged--the idea is being extended to first class. Gatwick Express plans to offer on-board check-in facilities for airline passengers in club class, and is to spend £100,000 per year on staff training with a view to creating a standard of service comparable with that of the airlines, with special attention being paid to the needs of overseas visitors.

Another great myth--scare story No. 7--was that passengers would lose their network benefits as a result of privatisation, and that rail would cease to co-ordinate its operations effectively with other modes. All the key network benefits have been protected as licence conditions, but the new private sector players are improving co-ordination between the railway and its counterparts in the bus and coach industry. Cardiff Railways, for example, is introducing an experimental bus link between Cardiff international airport and Cardiff central station. South West Trains has introduced its dedicated bus feeder services, plus through bus-rail ticketing for most destinations.

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