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Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, of course, mistakes have been made in the past but major corrective work has been carried out under the project. I can assure the House that the costs of the project have been substantially reduced, and in that respect the project is very much under control.
I share the view of my noble friend that there are areas of weakness in the performance of the trains. The full list of Pendolino tiling trains will not be available until April next year but, when it is, that will improve the service. As I indicated, improvements are being made with reduced journey times across the line, but it is the case that some of the expectations of a few years ago have not yet been met. We are working towards achieving the highest standards possible.
Lord Bradshaw: My Lords, I note that speeds have increased but fares have risen substantially, reliability has declined compared with 20 years ago, standards of punctuality and comfort have declined and meals have got worse. Can the users of the East Coast Main Line—the franchise which is about to be let—be defended in the franchise round from that kind of progress being inflicted on them?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the noble Lord will recognise that the West Coast Main Line project is rather different from the franchise arrangements for the East Coast Main Line. We are describing two different developments. But he will know that the reorganisation carried out by the previous administration resulted in very severe costs to the railway system. Significant costs to the system also resulted from the Hatfield crash, requiring extensive work in relation to the safety of the railway, and that has affected train performance and timetables.
I can only assert to the noble Lord that the East Coast Main Line has improved in recent years and, through investment, the West Cost Main Line is poised to undergo substantial improvements. We are
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therefore on line to see an improved railway system in which the substantial investment of recent years is justified.
Lord Barnett: My Lords, I declare an interest in having used the service to come to your Lordships' House and another place for some 40 years. My noble friend may be aware that trains occasionally tilt, but they do not perform well. I have heard something like 70-odd different excuses, such as slow-running trains in front, and so on. If my noble friend has tried the service, he will have heard some as well. Is he now telling us that the performance will be better?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, the improved service, as I indicated from the timetable that we introduced in September 2004, significantly reduces the journey time from Birmingham to London, from Manchester to London, from Liverpool to London and from Glasgow to London. That is proof of the investment in and improvement to the track and the investment in the Pendolino trains which, I freely concede, have not been without their teething troubles. However, the full fleet will be available from April next year. Therefore, we can look forward with some confidence to improved service on the line, which I believe my noble friend knows only too well.
Lord Peyton of Yeovil: My Lords, is the noble Lord not taking all this rather calmly by referring to areas of disappointment and then adding that the West Coast Main Line is poised for improvement? Is not a little more due by way of explanation?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, I was responding to the points that my noble friend introduced with regard to the performance of the Pendolino trains. We have already seen reduced journey times under the new timetable, which is a reflection of very substantial investment in this project in recent years. So we are seeing the first fruits of that investment and improvement. It is a major task. This is the busiest, most intensively used, most complex mainline in the whole of Europe and its refurbishment, across virtually the whole of its length, its resignalling and the development of a new train-set system are bound to produce difficulties in the interim. That is reflected in some of the contributions.
Lord Snape: My Lords, does the Minister accept that my Pendolino train yesterday from Birmingham to Euston arrived six minutes early? Pendolino trains are running and, by and large, running well. Does he find it strange that those who profess to love the railways the most, praise them the least? Will he accept from me that those who work in the railway industry would occasionally appreciate a word in favour of their efforts rather than non-stop denigration from this and the other place?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, my noble friend speaks with great experience of the railways, both as a Member of both Houses of Parliament and as a former railway worker. I hope he does not regard the arrival
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of his train six minutes early as a particular benefaction to him as a former railway worker. We look upon that as evidence of the fact that the new timetable in many areas is working to great effect and is a great improvement for the travelling public.
Education: International Strategy
Lord Archer of Sandwell asked Her Majesty's Government:
When they expect to have in place an implementation plan for the strategy set out in the paper Putting the World into World-Class Education.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Filkin): My Lords, officials within the department are already in discussions with a number of key organisations which are working with us to draw up and to develop the implementation plan. We aim to finalise that by the end of spring 2005.
Lord Archer of Sandwell: My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that encouraging Answer. Can he confirm the Government's commitment to the principle that there is no inconsistency between inducing a sense of loyalty to the local community and to the nation and teaching that global security and well-being are indivisible? Have we not learned that tragically in the past few weeks by the events in Asia? Therefore, can my noble friend say whether the Government will co-operate with education authorities in other countries in some of their projects and will they draw on the expertise of NGOs like the Council for Education in World Citizenship and the One World Trust?
Lord Filkin: My Lords, my noble and learned friend is absolutely right. As most noble Lords know, one can rejoice in the village or town in which one lives, one can be proud of being British, or English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish, and at the same time have a commitment to understanding the wider world and feeling part of that wider world. Of course, that is exactly the message in the strategy that we are discussing. He is also right that, in implementing it, we shall seek to co-operate with other educational institutions. That is where we can add most value from our expertise and from our experts and we shall be consulting with a range of bodies, including the One World Trust, in the forthcoming weeks.
Lord Quirk: My Lords, the very first goal in the White Paper is:
That transformation theme is repeated enthusiastically again and again in the White Paper. Does the Minister accept that in actual fact language learning in secondary schools and in universities is in sharp decline? How will
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the mere option of a second language in all primary schools by 2010, which is the shared goal, transform such a dire position?
Lord Filkin: My Lords, I do not hold quite such a jaundiced view as the noble Lord, Lord Quirk, on the status of language teaching in secondary schools. He may, in part, be referring obliquely to the increased freedom that we have given schools with regard to how much they insist on an obligatory second language for more senior pupils in secondary schools. We have had that discussion a number of times.
We are absolutely convinced that by getting more pupils aged from seven to 11 involved in languages at an earlier age, we are likely to have a better commitment to language learning as part of a wider educational agenda. Of course, there are links between the relevance of language learning and the rest of the strategy because it should demonstrate to pupils that just being able to speak one's own language, one hopes well, is not enough as part of a global society.
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, is the Minister aware of the sentence on page 15 of the supporting paper for head teachers which says:
"A large secondary school is able to take on a specialist head of international studies, a language teacher with a broad background of interest in international development work"?
Does he agree with me that that suggests exciting new opportunities in schools for older people who have much broader experience than just teaching languages? Does the planning to which he referred earlier include arrangements for attracting such people into those exciting new roles in schools?
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