Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Transport
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide
the Committee with a summary of the Department's position on personal
safety at railway stations. The sections below set out the Department's
views under the following headings :-
— Responsibility for passenger safety.
— Government initiatives:
— Personal security measures at stations;
— The Secure Stations Scheme;
— Summary and conclusions.
OPENING STATEMENT
The Government is committed to continued improvements
in personal safety at railway stations. Providing a rail system
which passengers regard as safe to use at all times is not a straightforward
task. Many of our stations were built by the Victorians and have
suffered badly from underinvestment since. We are addressing that
neglect through an unprecedented level of investment; by making
money available for station improvements; by encouraging improved
personal safety for passengers and staff through specific initiatives
like the Secure Stations Scheme (the new South Western franchise
will, for the first time, impose specific requirements on an operator
to achieve and maintain Secure Stations Scheme accreditation)
and by increased BTP spending.
More generally, the Government continues to
support the work of the police, local authorities, Crime and Disorder
Reduction partnerships (CDRPs) and transport operators to tackle
crime on all modes of public transport. We continue to develop,
evaluate and disseminate good practice in reducing crime and the
fear of crime wherever it occurs in the transport system. We also
continue to raise the profile of transport crime as an issue that
CDRPs should consider within their crime and disorder strategies.
The rail industry is committed to working with CDRPs and others
to improve community safety.
The following sections of this memorandum highlight
the progress that has already been made and describes the Government's
future plans in this area.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR
PASSENGER SAFETY
There are just over 2,500 stations on the network.
All but a handful (such as St Pancras International and Prestwick)
are owned by Network Rail. Seventeen—the main London termini
and a small number of major stations outside London—are
managed directly by Network Rail themselves. The rest are leased
to and managed by the main train operator serving the station.
The operators' responsibilities include the personal safety of
passengers.
Regular users are generally well aware of who
their train operators are and so have a good idea of where to
take their complaint when things go wrong at their local station.
At multi-operator stations, however, this may be much less obvious
and there needs to be more information at stations making it clear
where responsibility lies. This is already addressed at Network
Rail stations. Displays on train departure boards identifying
not only the company responsible but also the name of the duty
manager are a feature of some Network Rail stations which might
usefully be adopted elsewhere.
A particular issue arises at stations shared
by Underground and main line trains. In these cases, too, more
imaginative use of signing could go a long way towards ensuring
that passengers know who is responsible for their safety.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
TO PROMOTE
PASSENGER SAFETY
A range of current Government initiatives are
directed specifically at dealing with crime and the fear of crime
among users of railway stations:
Personal safety measures at stations
The Government is spending £87 million
a week on the railways. Spending specifically on stations is difficult
to identify separately because it comes from a wide variety of
sources including Network Rail, train operators, private investors
and local authorities. The National Audit Office, however, have
estimated that around £675 million was spent on station maintenance,
operations, renewals and improvements in 2003-04. Even with investment
at that level, it is inevitable that there will be competing calls
on funds. Operational safety, for example, was rightly the priority
following Hatfield and other major accidents. Even now that those
issues have been addressed, there continue to be other areas which
matter to passengers—punctuality and reliability being the
outstanding examples—as well as personal safety.
The Department has been undertaking research
into the most effective ways of tackling crime at those stations
with the highest rates of crime, and especially those in socially
excluded areas, to see whether the need is for conventional crime
reduction or wider regeneration solutions. We hope to make the
results available to operators and others later this year.
Franchise agreements increasingly require train
operators to make improvements to stations in their area. We now
routinely expect train operators, in submitting their bids, to
demonstrate that they have considered the appropriate level of
safety at stations. Operators are expected to have priced station
upkeep into their bids and Network Rail is fully funded to maintain
the physical structure of stations through the income line set
by the Office of Rail Regulation in the interim review. A well
maintained station is valuable in reassuring passengers and is
less likely to attract anti social behaviour.
There is, additionally, central funding for
stations. Network Rail has a £50 million a year pot for small
investments which can be used both directly to pay for improvements
like CCTV installation and to lever in third party funding. Around
a third of stations nationally, and over half the three hundred
or so in London, now have CCTV and the number is increasing steadily
as operators and Transport for London continue to invest in increased
passenger safety. For the longer term, improved passenger safety
is one of the items Ministers will want to specify in the High
Level Output Specification.
Recent media reporting of station safety issues
has concentrated heavily on the benefits which might flow from
insisting that all stations are staffed whenever trains are running.
This is something we will continue to examine but which is likely
to prove an expensive option that may well not make the best use
of what are inevitably limited resources. A more sophisticated
approach which targets crime hot spots is likely to be much more
effective than a blanket requirement that every station, regardless
of circumstances, must be staffed at all times.
This memorandum has already drawn attention
to the level of current investment in the railway but the very
fact that so much public money is being spent underlines the need
to ensure that we are getting the best value for it. Responsibility
for stations within the Department is currently spread across
a number of different Divisions, reflecting the wide range of
current initiatives in the area. There is, though a clear need
to ensure that the various strands of policy relevant to stations
in general and personal safety at stations in particular is properly
coordinated. A post is therefore being created within the Strategy
and Finance Directorate of the Department's Rail Group specifically
to take responsibility across the board for stations issues and
to ensure a sharper focus.
The Secure Stations Scheme
The Secure Stations Scheme is directed by the
Department and the British Transport Police and enables operators
to gain accreditation for stations which have a comprehensive
package of measures to reduce crime and reassure passengers. Accreditation
is based on four criteria:
— the physical design of the station,
ensuring that crime is, as far as possible, designed out;
— ensuring that the station is being
managed in a way that reduces crime;
— statistical evidence showing that
crime at the station is being managed; and
— survey results showing that the majority
of passengers feel secure.
Accreditation can be withdrawn at any time if
standards are not maintained. In any case, accreditation lasts
only two years, after which it lapses if it is not renewed. Once
accreditation has been gained, there are incentives on operators
to maintain standards. In some cases this will take the form of
a specific franchise obligations; we expect this to become an
increasingly common feature of franchises in the future. Even
where there is no direct obligation, however, operators will want
to avoid the negative publicity that would result from allowing
accreditation to lapse.
The strength of the scheme is that it both gives
a good coverage of the things that matter to passengers and specifically
measures users' perceptions, not merely those of the operator.
The Scheme was the subject of a formal independent review in 2003.
The review generally endorsed the Scheme and proposed no major
changes. Those recommendations which were made were aimed at improving
the effectiveness and take up of the Scheme by reducing its cost,
simplifying administration and giving a clearer steer in the case
of stations which failed to meet the accreditation standard.
Following the Scheme's relaunch in March 2005,
there has been a 52% increase in accreditations. Most train operators
and Network Rail now participate. We have considered whether accreditation
should be compulsory and we have, in fact, made accreditation
of more stations a franchise requirement. Insisting on it across
the board would, however, be an expensive option and one which
would have to be phased in over a period. We are considering,
as an alternative, whether franchise bidders might be required
to state what percentage of their stations would be accredited
and to what timetable.
Policing
Total crime on the railways decreased by 1.9%
in 2004-05. The British Transport Police (BTP) currently deploys
2,773 officers, an increase of 11% on the number employed in 2004-05,
which itself saw a then record rise of 9% on the previous year.
This does not include either Special Constables or Police Community
Support Officers (PCSOs). 200 additional Specials will be recruited
over the next three years, bringing the numbers up to 426. An
extra 60 PCSOs have been recruited during 2005-06, bringing the
total to over 200.
PCSOs have been deployed at the main London
termini, Leeds, Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly and
Cardiff Central. These stations are among those with the highest
passenger numbers and also the highest crime levels.
PSCOs do not have all the powers of police officers
but they are a visible, and uniformed, patrolling presence. They
are an effective deterrent, especially to the type of low level
anti-social behaviour that can add to the fear of crime. They
have a range of powers not available to other railway staff. They
can require a person's name and address, can confiscate alcohol
being consumed in a public place and can detain people for up
to thirty minutes pending the arrival of a police officer.
By introducing the legislation to allow the
BTP to deploy PCSOs, the Government has enabled the force to extend
its policing capability. We have also put in place legislation
to allow the BTP to establish a Railway Safety Accreditation Scheme.
This allows the BTP Chief Constable to confer limited police powers
on specific employees (such as Network Rail or train operating
company station or security staff) once they have been suitably
trained and accredited under the scheme. Accredited persons can
be deployed on trains and at stations. They do a valuable job
in reassuring the public and contributing to the fight against
crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour.
On 11 October 2005, the Secretary of State announced
a review of the BTP. His decision to carry out the review was
made in the context of the review of the 43 local police forces
in England and Wales which is being undertaken by the Home Secretary
but which does not cover the BTP. The wider review is addressing
proposals for major restructuring of policing across England and
Wales and the Secretary of State considered it right to review
the BTP at the same time.
Summary and conclusions
Part of the Government's vision, as set out
in its Ten Year Plan for Transport, was safer and more secure
transport accessible to all. This memorandum has made the point
that attention to rail safety issues in the early years of the
period covered by the Plan concentrated on learning the lessons
of major accidents like that at Hatfield. Personal safety was
nevertheless identified as an important issue from the outset.
The Plan specifically identified the need for "station improvements
including improved . . . personal security, with greater coverage
of CCTV at stations and station car parks and increasing numbers
of stations accredited under the Secure Stations Scheme."
Good progress has been achieved in those and
other related areas, as this memorandum has described. That is
reflected in the results of the Autumn 2005 National Passenger
Survey conducted by Passenger Focus which showed that 59% of passengers
nationally rated personal security at stations as satisfactory
or good. 10% rated it unsatisfactory or poor. Results for London
and the South East were almost identical (57% and 10% respectively).
The survey also showed that satisfaction ratings in this area
were improving. We recognise that there is work still to be done
to reassure passengers not only that rail is a safe means of transport
but also that their personal safety is not at risk while on trains
and at railway stations.
3 April 2006
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