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ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS

London Underground

Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 12 May 2000, Official Report, column 483-84W, on London Underground, if he will list (a) train, (b) signal and (c) track failures in each financial year for each line of the London Underground. [125281]

Mr. Hill: This is an operational matter for London Underground Ltd. (LUL). The figures requested are not standard London Underground performance measures and data are not kept in this format. Therefore to provide the figures on a line by line basis would incur disproportionate cost.

Registered Social Landlords

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will list (a) those local authorities which have transferred some or all of their housing stock to registered social landlords, (b) the name of the registered social landlord to which the stock has been transferred, (c) the average rent increase or decrease determined by the registered social landlord in each financial year since the transfer and (d) the rent collected by the registered social landlord as a percentage of the total rent due in each financial year since the transfer; [124258]

(2) if he will list those registered social landlords to which local authority housing stock has been transferred which have failed to satisfy the performance indicators set by the Housing Corporation, for each financial year since the stock was transferred, and in each case give details of the specific performance indicators they failed. [124259]

Mr. Mullin [holding answer 8 June 2000]: The information requested, that is readily available, has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

However, information about rent increases and decreases has been collected as part of the Housing Corporation's performance indicators only since 1995-96. Information on rent increases for transfer tenants and for new tenants is not collected separately. The rent differential between these two groups can be over 20 per cent. It would be misleading to provide an average figure combining rent increase and decrease figures for transfer tenants and new tenants.

The Housing Corporation has collected a range of performance indicators since 1993-94. Since April 1998, RSLs have been expected to achieve set levels of performance in certain key areas of housing management. In view of this, a list of RSLs to which local authority housing stock has been transferred which failed to satisfy the performance indicators set by the Housing Corporation is available only for the years 1997-98 and 1998-99.

Housing Investment Programme

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what were the (a) cash and (b) percentage changes to the Housing

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Investment Programme in the London boroughs of (i) Kensington and Chelsea and (ii) Westminster in each year since 1992. [125421]

Mr. Mullin: Kensington and Chelsea's and Westminster's Housing Investment Programme allocations for 1992-93 to 2000-01 were as set out in the table. The figures for 1997-98 to 1999-2000 include the allocations made through the Capital Receipts Initiative.

£ thousand

	Kensington and Chelsea
Year	Allocation	Change on previous year
		Amount	Percentage
1992-93	13,084	+3,440	+36
1993-94	12,087	-997	-8
1994-95	9,567	-2,520	-21
1995-96	9,327	-240	-3
1996-97	9,583	+256	+3
1997-98	7,453	-2,130	-22
1998-99	9,682	+2,229	+30
1999-2000	10,625	+943	+10
2000-2001	16,395	+5,770	+35

£ thousand

	Westminster
Year	Allocation	Change on previous year
		Amount	Percentage
1992-93	21,314	+1,249	+6
1993-94	25,190	+3,876	+18
1994-95	18,780	-6,410	-25
1995-96	16,583	-2,197	-12
1996-97	15,763	-820	-5
1997-98	12,313	-3,450	-22
1998-99	14,172	+1,859	+15
1999-2000	15,561	1,389	+10
2000-2001	25,535	+9,974	+64

Thameslink

Mr. Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what measures he will take to ensure that Railtrack minimises inconvenience to passengers travelling to London from stations on the northern section of the Thameslink line, during the construction of the Thameslink 2000 project; and if he will make a statement. [125591]

Mr. Hill: The shadow Strategic Rail Authority is already working closely with Railtrack to construct replacement timetables for services disrupted by the engineering works for Thameslink 2000. These discussions supplement the normal 30 week notice period Railtrack must give to Train Operating Companies in order to undertake long planned work, and the aim is to reduce disruptions to the minimum.

Rail Sleeper Services

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will take steps to encourage the reinstatement of discontinued sleeper services between the North of England and London. [125549]

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Mr. Hill: These services were withdrawn some years ago by the British Railways Board as they were no longer financially viable. Since then journey times and opportunities on North of England services have been substantially improved both early in the morning and late into the evening. The Franchising Director has no plans to include North of England sleeper services in Passenger Service Requirements at present, since there is little perceived demand. These services could be provided by train operators in the future if there is an adequate commercial basis for their provision. Financial support could be sought through the making of an appropriate Rail Passenger Partnership bid.

Jubilee Line

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what reasons Jubilee Line services to Charing Cross have been discontinued; what consultation took place before the withdrawal; and if he will make a statement. [125606]

Mr. Hill [holding answer 12 June 2000]: It was decided to extend the Jubilee Line from Green Park to Stratford via Westminster and Waterloo, omitting Charing Cross for engineering, cost and passenger benefit reasons. London Underground Limited did not undergo a consultation period before the withdrawal of the service since Part Five, Section 38 of the London Underground Act 1992 (giving construction powers) excluded them from any need to do so. However, throughout the time the Bill was going through Parliament London Underground made clear their intention to close the Charing Cross Jubilee platforms.

Connex South Central

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make it a requirement for the successful bidder for the Connex South Central franchise to include firm proposals to reopen the Lewes-Uckfield railway line. [125610]

Mr. Hill [holding answer 12 June 2000]: Negotiations for a replacement South Central franchise are at an advanced stage. The Deputy Prime Minister has asked the Franchising Director to evaluate the bids against the following criteria: commitment to secure better performance and customer services, the extent to which extra or earlier investment can be secured, the extent to which passengers will be given a greater voice in the level and standard of services, and value for money to the taxpayer. All the investment proposals contained in bids will be evaluated against these criteria.

Rail Passenger Committees

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what safeguards he proposes to put in place to secure the independence in respect of policy making of the rail passenger committees. [125608]

Mr. Hill [holding answer 12 June 2000]: The recently renamed Rail Passengers Committees will continue to have the freedom to express their independent views under the sponsorship of the Strategic Rail Authority as they currently do under the sponsorship of the Office of the Rail Regulator. Although the SRA will sponsor the

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RPCs, the Secretary of State will continue to appoint the Chairmen of the RPCs and the Chairman of the national Rail Passengers' Council.

Bog Areas (Conservation)

Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he is taking to ensure that appropriate hydrological and management regimes are established by 2005 in all lowland raised bog areas which have been damaged but still retain nature conservation interest. [125773]

Mr. Mullin: The Biodiversity Habitat action plan for Lowland Raised Bogs, published in October 1999, and placed in the Library of the House, sets out the planned action for restoring this habitat to favourable conservation status in the UK.

English Nature is the Lead Agency for co-ordination of action and work plans by the organisations identified in the plan. The plan acknowledges that a list must first be drawn up to decide which bogs require action to be taken.

Some bogs are included in the list of Candidate Special Areas of Conservation under the EC Habitats Directive which is currently under review. The Government will ensure that activities on or around candidate SACs which may damage their hydrology and are subject to formal permissions or licences are reviewed, including planning consents and activities licensed by the statutory water regulators. This could lead to a number of different outcomes to remove the source of damage.

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