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Train Protection Systems
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what progress has been made with the train operating companies in respect of installing train protection systems; [104597]
- (2) what timetable has been agreed for the installation of train protection systems in all rolling stock, including the final date for completion. [104665]
Mr. Hill: The Railway Safety Regulations, laid before Parliament on 10 August 1999, requires train protection systems to be introduced and operational across the railway network by the end of 2003 at the latest.
At the Rail Safety Summit on 30 November the train operators announced that they have agreed a timetable to fit 33 per cent. of trains by the end of 2001, 75 per cent. of trains by the end of 2002 and all trains by the end of 2003. Also at the Summit, Railtrack agreed to aim to install train protection at 12,000 sites by the end of 2002.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what decision he has reached about the preferred system of train protection. [104628]
Mr. Hill:
Following the Ladbroke Grove train accident the Government asked Sir David Davies, the President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, to report on the effectiveness, practicability and cost of train protection systems, and on how best to reduce the present incidence of signals passed at danger (SPADs). Ministers expect to receive his report shortly.
This information will be available to Lord Cullen (who is conducting the Public Inquiry into the Ladbroke Grove accident) and Professor Uff (conducting the Southall Inquiry), and they will jointly consider train protection systems. The Health and Safety Commission will advise the Government on any recommendations they make.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what time scale has been agreed with the train operating companies and Railtrack to install the confidential telephone reporting system; and what is the final deadline for its implementation. [104596]
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Mr. Hill:
At the second Rail Safety Summit on 30 November 1999 Railtrack and the train operating companies agreed that the independent and confidential incident reporting system, which will allow all staff to phone in any safety concerns, will be extended throughout Great Britain by the end of 2000. Regional contracts are to be let by April 2000. The system will be fully operative by the end of 2000.
Mr. Llwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what proposals he has to provide funding for (a) enforcing and overseeing corrective action at leaking underground storage tank sites and (b) clean-ups (i) where the owner or operator is unknown, or is unwilling or unable to respond and (ii) which require emergency action. [104638]
Mr. Meacher:
The main responsibilities for regulating underground storage tanks, including enforcing and overseeing corrective action when they are leaking, are held by the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and the petroleum licensing authorities. The legal powers available to these bodies, and the detailed allocation of responsibilities between them, varies according to what is stored in the tank and the type of pollution incident involved. The Environment Agency is funded through grant-in-aid paid by my department as well as by charges paid by those seeking permits and licences. The Health and Safety Executive is also funded through grant-in-aid as well as from charges for certain activities which are recovered from industry. The petroleum licensing authorities are part of local government, and as such are funded through a combination of council tax, non-domestic rates and revenue support grant paid by my Department.
In cases where leaks have occurred and clean-up action is necessary, responsibility for paying for the work generally falls on the owner or operator of the tank. Depending on what was stored in the tank, and the nature of the problems which the leak has caused, this responsibility may be enforced under a number of legal powers. These include the works notice system in sections 161-161D of the Water Resources Act 1991, under which the Environment Agency may itself carry out works in an emergency or where it appears after reasonable inquiry that no person can be found on whom to serve a works notice; the statutory nuisance regime in Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; and the Groundwater Regulations 1998. These powers will be supplemented in April by a new regime for remediating contaminated land, under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (which was inserted by section 57 of the Environment Act 1995). An additional £12 million per year has been added to Standard Spending Assessments for local authorities in England to support their role under the new contaminated land regime.
The Contaminated Land Supplementary Credit Approval programme also provides capital expenditure support for local authorities in England to deal with cases where land contamination is causing unacceptable risks to human health and the environment, and where no-one else can be made to pay for the necessary remediation. This could include circumstances where leaks have occurred from underground storage tanks. The total provision in
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the current financial year for this programme is £12.082 million. A further £1.958 million has been provided to the Environment Agency as additional grant-in-aid to support equivalent work it is carrying out.
Mr. Bob Russell:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has for Ministers to attend the symposium, organised by the Institution of Highways and Transportation, on 20 January at Kegworth, Derby. [104579]
Mr. Hill:
No invitation was extended to Ministers to speak at the symposium.
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will estimate the increased contributions which local government employers will have to make to their pension schemes in order to offset the effect of the ACT charges in the 1997 Budget; and what these extra contributions are as a percentage of the total payroll costs. [104674]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
The effect of the abolition of advance corporation tax on employer contributions to local authority pension funds was one of many factors taken into account in the 1998 actuarial valuation exercise. Information on increases to individual local authority employers' contributions specifically attributable to this aspect of the exercise is not collected centrally.
The Local Government Association estimated that the average net impact of the 1998 valuation, including the effect of the ACT changes on employers' contributions in 1999-2000 was 1 per cent., or about £130 million nationally. We have honoured undertakings given at the time of the 1997 Budget to take into account this and all the other factors identified in the valuation exercise in determining the level of local authority provision in 1999-2000, and for subsequent years.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if the river of fire on new year's eve worked according to plan; [104434]
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 13 January 2000]: I refer the hon. Member to the oral reply I gave to the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) on 11 January 2000, Official Report, column 138. I would also add that the transport operators provided the absolute maximum service possible. Tube and DLR provided a peak level service from midnight to after 4 am (20 trains an hour for the tube). Train operators ran the maximum service possible from 1 am to after 4.30 am. LT ran nearly double the usual night bus service. We always warned that people should expect long delays. Most people were able to catch a train or tube before 2.30 am. Despite a very high level of attendance the transport operators were able to get people both safely to the event, and back home again after.
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It is true that the "River of Fire" did not live up to some people's expectations, but this should not detract from the spectacular success of the event. Indeed, CNN described London's Big Time fireworks as the
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 13 January 2000]: A review of arrangements is an essential and routine part of any major event. All the organisations involved in key services on new year's eve already have them well in hand.
(2) if he will make a statement on the public transport arrangements in London on new year's eve. [104435]
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) who was responsible for planning and co-ordinating rail services and crowd control at central London stations, with particular reference to Waterloo, on new year's eve; [104611]
"most spectacular firework show in the world".
(2) if he will hold an inquiry into the planning and management of crowd evacuation from central London railway stations, with particular reference to Waterloo, on New Year's Eve. [104605]
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