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A38

4. Sir Robert Hicks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to announce the commencement of the design and other preparatory work for the A38 trunk road improvement scheme between Carkeel and Stoketon Cross; and if he will make a statement.[8782]

Mr. Watts: The A38 Saltash to Stoketon Cross improvement scheme has been retained in the main road programme. Design work on the scheme will be resumed when resources allow.

Sir Robert Hicks: Is my hon. Friend aware that that much-needed road improvement will help to provide access to the Broadmoor Farm business park and that, when Caradon district council considered the application, it was obliged by the Highways Agency to impose a condition that will not allow that exciting development, with a job creation potential of 2,500, to go ahead until the new road is complete? Surely, in view of its importance to the local economy, he should provide the necessary funds for the design and preparatory work now.

Mr. Watts: I am well aware of the importance of the scheme to that imaginative development. That is why, in the 1995 review of the road programme, I separated that part of the improvement from a larger scheme. My understanding is that the developers are content with the condition that has been imposed by the district council following the direction from the Highways Agency, but we have made it clear to both the council and the developers that the agency is willing to negotiate with the developers on a more limited road improvement, to enable the scheme to be occupied; the development may proceed, but the condition is that it may not be occupied until the necessary road improvements have been carried out. We remain ready to negotiate on the extent of the improvements.

Mr. Bradley: On behalf of the millions of motorists who may use the A38 trunk road improvement and similar trunk roads throughout the country, I ask the Minister to confirm that he is considering his senior management proposal to abolish the option of a six-month road fund licence and the option of the purchase of licence stamps, as a cost-cutting exercise--

Madam Speaker: Order. This is a very specific question, and the hon. Gentleman must either be specific or resume his seat--one or the other.

Mr. Bradley: The abolition of the six-month road licence will be used by motorists on the A38 improvement--

Madam Speaker: Order. That must be it. The hon. Gentleman cannot widen a question as specific as this.

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Heathrow-Plymouth Flights

5. Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with British Airways regarding the slots into Heathrow from Plymouth.[8781]

Sir George Young: I have recently written to the chief executive of British Airways to pass on local concerns about the future of the Brymon Airways service between Heathrow, Plymouth and Newquay.

Mr. Jamieson: Is the Secretary of State aware that, if the merger between British Airways and American Airlines goes ahead, the President of the Board of Trade could make British Airways give up a substantial number of slots in and out of Heathrow, which in turn could seriously affect flights from Plymouth and Newquay to Heathrow? Is he further aware that the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Urban Regeneration has also said that those air links are vital to investment in the south-west? When will the Government do some joined-up thinking on the question? May I suggest that the Secretary of State's Department make a start by ring-fencing the slots to protect the flights to and from Heathrow and the south-west, which would in turn protect jobs and investment in west Devon and Cornwall?

Sir George Young: As the hon. Gentleman said, my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade is holding consultations on proposals concerning the alliance between British Airways and American Airlines, and I do not propose to make any comment on those consultations, which are fairly and clearly a matter for him.

I recently received a deputation led by my hon. Friend the Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Mr. Coe), who made clear the importance of the service. As I understand it, Brymon Airways considers the service to be profitable. The latest figures that I have seen show that custom is increasing. The service is well used, and there are no plans to vary it.

Mr. Harris: Does my right hon. Friend appreciate the importance of this service to the economy of Cornwall and of Plymouth and west Devon? Today, still more job losses in Cornwall have been announced at English China Clays. Will my right hon. Friend receive a delegation of both Government and Opposition Members from the south-west to discuss this important issue and the absolute need to safeguard this facility for the south-west?

Sir George Young: My hon. Friend extends an invitation that I find difficult to decline. Although I have recently received a deputation of south-west Members, in view of the strength of feeling on the matter, if my hon. Friend contacts my private office to arrange a meeting I shall be pleased to see him.

Mr. Mackinlay: Does the Secretary of State not understand that one reason why British Airways' American tie-up should be referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission is the threat that it poses to consumer interests? This matter affects consumer interests in the south-west. Is not my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson) correct to demand the matter's referral? Is it not bad form that the

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Government are discussing BA bailing them out with millennium money at the same time as this matter is before the Government? It should be demonstrably clear that nothing will impede a fair and appropriate consideration of the need for referral, uncluttered by the nice offers made by British Airways in respect of the wider United Kingdom interest.

Sir George Young: The hon. Gentleman makes a powerful point, but he has made it at the wrong Question Time. Referral rests not with my Department but with that of my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade.

Humberside International Airport

6. Mr. Michael Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to require the privatisation of Humberside international airport.[8780]

Sir George Young: It is our policy to encourage privatisation of local authority-owned airports, as we believe that the commercial approach of the private sector benefits their operation and efficiency. The policy is working, and I hope that the owners of Humberside airport will consider the benefits of private ownership.

Mr. Brown: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his reply, but he and his predecessors have been encouraging Humberside airport to go private for many years, and no notice has been taken. Is it not time that the Government introduced legislation to require Humberside airport to be put into private hands? Even East Midlands airport, which used to have Labour-controlled Derbyshire county council among its shareholders, has been put in private hands.

Humberside no longer exists; the term is not understood by anyone. Why is the name not changed and why do the Government not introduce legislation? I cannot fly from my Humberside constituency to London because the airport is still run by a Labour-controlled group of local authorities. The only way in which those authorities will respond to my right hon. Friend's encouragement is if he introduces legislation. The time for encouragement is over; the time for legislation is before us.

Sir George Young: Exciting ideas for the Conservative manifesto are always welcome, but, as my hon. Friend implied, the existing policy has been successful in persuading a number of local authorities, many of them Labour controlled, to dispose of their interests in local airports such as Liverpool, East Midlands and Cardiff. I shall reflect on my hon. Friend's proposition on compulsion.

Mr. Gunnell: I hope that the Secretary of State recognises that there would be no Humberside airport but for the strategic authority, which represented Humberside as a whole, that developed it. Will he ensure that that strategic approach is continued by the successor authorities and that no local authority-owned airport is privatised against the will of its owners?

Sir George Young: The position, as my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Cleethorpes (Mr. Brown) made clear, is that the Government are making good progress

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by persuasion. Many local authorities understand the advantage of privatising their airports to allow them access to capital that would not have been available to them had they remained in the public sector. We can debate on another occasion whether Humberside airport would have come about without the existence of a strategic authority. I hope that the new authorities responsible for Humberside will see the good progress made by local authority airports that have been privatised, which, in conjunction with private sector capital, have expanded in a way that would not otherwise have been possible.

Rail Freight

7. Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport to what extent the volume of rail freight has changed in the past five years.[8779]

Mr. Watts: In 1991, rail carried 134.8 million tonnes of freight, falling to 97.3 million tonnes in 1994, but rising again to 103.2 million tonnes in 1995. The key to rail freight's revival is privatisation. New private sector freight companies are attracting new traffic to the railway.

Mr. Spring: In thanking my hon. Friend for his answer, may I particularly welcome the announcement last autumn on rate increases and the rail freight grant? Does he share my view that that will encourage the movement of freight on to rail, which is good not only for motorists but for the environment?

Mr. Watts: I certainly hope that the increase in the mileage rate for motorway traffic will attract more of that road freight on to rail. Since 1979, more than 150 rail freight grants have been awarded, securing to rail the equivalent of about 3 million lorry journeys a year. About one in eight of all types of rail freight traffic have benefited at some time from grant.

Mr. Sutcliffe: If the Government are serious about rail freight, why has the freight facility grant not been fully spent? Of the £70 million available, why was only £32 million spent between 1985 and 1996? Is it not the truth that the Government have no intention of trying to increase rail freight?

Mr. Watts: On the contrary, the reason why I have adjusted the mileage rates, and why we have under way a review of ways in which administrative procedures for the grants could be further streamlined, is that we wish the grants to be taken up fully. Evidence shows how effective they are in encouraging new traffic to move off roads on to rail, or to be retained on rail, whereas it might otherwise have been lost to road.

Mr. Bernard Jenkin: Is it not time for everyone to acknowledge that the best prospects for rail freight are in the private sector and that the whole railway is being transformed by privatisation, which is liberating the management and injecting the capital, as state ownership could never possibly have done? Should we not remind ourselves that we were told that this was all going to be chaotic and disastrous, but the reverse is happening?

Mr. Watts: My hon. Friend is entirely right. English, Welsh and Scottish Railway and Freightliners have

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impressive investment plans and both have already demonstrated their ability to attract new business for the freight railway. It is in the new private environment that rail freight has its brightest future.

Mr. Chidgey: Is the Minister aware that, in the mad scramble to sell off the passenger franchise for the west coast main line, rail paths that are essential for the efficient operation of freight are being sacrificed? Will he advise the Rail Regulator that, in the negotiations to let passenger franchise, freight capacity must not be reduced?

Mr. Watts: I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's initial supposition. The Rail Regulator needs no instructions either from me or from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport to discharge his responsibilities to ensure that access to the railway is available both for passenger and for freight traffic.

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