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OPRAF
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what powers the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising has concerning proposals made by train operating companies to (a) reduce staffing levels and (b) change staff pay and conditions. [73107]
Dr. Reid: The Franchising Director does not have any power to prevent train operating companies from reducing their staffing levels. He has rights of approval over changes to pension arrangements and changes to pay and conditions which would leave undesirable legacies for the next franchisee.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising made of the likely impact on staffing levels of the successful bids for rail franchises; and if he will place a copy of each such assessment in the Library. [73152]
Dr. Reid: Bids for franchises were assessed on value for money for the provision of passenger rail services. The contents of the bids remain confidential and therefore copies of the assessments cannot be placed in the Library.
Rail Staff Redundancies
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many rail staff took redundancy in each of the years between 1992-93 and 1997-98. [73169]
Dr. Reid: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Ms Jackson), on 16 December 1997, Official Report, columns 152-53. I understand from the British Railways Board that, in 1997-98, 310 British Rail staff were made redundant.
East Coast Main Line
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the Government will take into account Sea Containers' punctuality record when evaluating the company's request for a franchise extension for the East Coast main line. [73090]
Dr. Reid: As I announced at the rail summit on 25 February, the track record of franchisees will be one of the factors in considering proposals for renegotiation.
Rail Network (Crime)
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what surveys of public opinion (a) his Department and (b) the British Transport Police have carried out in the last five years into fear of crime on the national rail network. [73104]
Dr. Reid:
In 1997 the Department published a report entitled "Perceptions of safety from crime on public transport". This was the outcome of a number of surveys and focus groups carried out across England which included train travel. In the last five years the British Transport Police have carried out annual surveys alternately with railway passengers or staff and these included questions on the fear of crime.
1 Mar 1999 : Column: 514
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the total sum invested in measures specifically to improve access to stations for travellers with disabilities in each of the years between 1987-88 and 1997-98. [73103]
Dr. Reid:
Information on specific expenditure on disabled access is not available for those years.
However, all new stations planned or in build will provide full unassisted wheelchair access. In addition, Railtrack are on course to meet the target, set in the Network Management Statement 1998, of providing unassisted wheelchair access at a further 119 stations this year.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what duties will be given to the Strategic Rail Authority in regard to improving access to the rail network for travellers with disabilities. [73102]
Dr. Reid:
Subject to Parliament's' consideration of the necessary legislation, the Strategic Rail Authority will have a duty to have regard, in particular, to the interests of disabled people. The SRA would also inherit the Rail Regulator's code of practice for protecting disabled railway passengers and a duty to revise it from time to time and encourage its adoption and implementation. The Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 1998, which came into effect on 1 January this year, have set clear technical requirements for wheelchair access and a range of other features that will apply to all new rolling stock coming into service from that date.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what has been the average annual increase in the cost of (a) supersaver, (b) cheap day return and (c) standard single tickets on the national rail network for each year from 1992-93 to 1997-98. [73091]
Dr. Reid:
This information is not available in the form requested. However, I will write to my hon. Friend about the data that are available.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many, and what proportion, of journeys on the InterCity and former InterCity network were made using (a) supersavers and (b) savers in each of the last 10 years. [73106]
Dr. Reid:
This information is not available in the form requested.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many (a) family railcards, (b) network cards, (c) forces railcards and (d) all-line rail rovers were issued in each of the last 10 years. [73105]
Dr. Reid:
This information is not held centrally.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if those rail services provided under the Rail Regulator's Moderation of Competition proposals will be required to accept national interavailable protected fares. [73190]
1 Mar 1999 : Column: 515
Dr. Reid:
In all the access agreements which the Rail Regulator has approved to date, the acceptance of national interavailable protected fares has been a requirement. The Rail Regulator has indicated that he would not expect to approve access rights for new services where he had reason to believe that approval was likely to result in the loss of network benefits. Those benefits include the provision of interavailable tickets. For franchise operators, the obligation to accept interavailable tickets is a condition of their franchise agreement.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what instructions he gave to passenger transport authorities in regard to fares levels in connection with the payment of the special rail grant to passenger transport executives. [73094]
Dr. Reid:
None. Where Passenger Transport Authorities (PTAs) have chosen to retain responsibility for setting fares on the rail services which they support, they are free to raise or lower fares as they wish. However, the amount of grant entitlement will take account of the financial consequences of fares changes which diverge from the national fares cap set by the Franchising Director. Fares in the areas of the two PTAs which have chosen to pass responsibility for setting fares to the train operating companies are subject to the regulated fares cap set in franchise agreements, i.e. RPI-1 from 1 January 1999.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what criteria were used by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising to assess the impact on existing or potential rail services of the coach links which OPRAF approved as part of the Virgin/Stagecoach deal for the InterCity West Coast Main Line and Cross Country Franchises. [73089]
Dr. Reid:
The Criterion for securing the bus links was the integration of public transport in line with our recent White Paper, A New Deal for Transport. The primary aim was to transport passengers to rail heads by bus from areas not currently served by rail services and thus to encourage greater use of train services from these rail heads.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the total number of passenger train services on the national rail network for each year between 1985-86 and 1997-98. [73093]
Dr. Reid:
Information is not held in this form. However, I will write to my hon. Friend about alternative statistics that are available.
1 Mar 1999 : Column: 516
Ms Keeble:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what progress is being made by the DVLA in reaching their target to deliver 95 per cent. of vocational licences within nine working days. [73097]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
Since the beginning of 1998-99 the target has been met or bettered during every month except for April 1998, when a 10 day turnaround was recorded. DVLA expects to deliver an 8 day performance for the year as a whole.
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