Air Traffic Control (Hansard, 16 March 1987)

§ 8. Mr. Wallace
asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the ratio of air traffic controller posts to the number of flights.

§ Mr. Michael Spicer
This matter is the statutory responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority. The authority's inspectorate of air traffic control ensures that there are sufficient qualified staff at all air traffic control units to handle the traffic there.

§ Mr. Wallace
Does the Minister accept that since the last major review of air traffice control, transatlantic flights, for example, have doubled and that air movements plotted by the air traffic control centre at Prestwick have gone up by 267 per cent., while staffing levels have remained the same? Against that background, does it not seem rather odd that the Civil Aviation Authority is seeking to reduce its manpower by 10 per cent.? Will the Minister undertake that when he, or the Secretary of State, meets the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority he will 681 emphasise the paramount consideration of safety over any commercial considerations that it may have in trying to compete for other contracts at other airports?

§ Mr. Spicer
The answer to the last part of the hon. Gentleman's question is yes. The Civil Aviation Authority employs air traffic controllers at a limited number of airports. One of the reasons why its payroll has been falling is that it recently lost the Liverpool contract. As the hon. Gentleman implied, as long ago as 1983 the Monopolies and Mergers Commission reported that there was under-utilisation of air traffic controllers at some airports. As a result, the CAA is trying to make better utilisation of its air traffic controllers at non-busy airports and at off-peak periods. On the hon. Gentleman's last point, I can give him a specific assurance that, despite the increase in traffic to which he referred, the number of serious risk-bearing air misses declined between 1976 and 1985 from 40 to 16.

§ Mr. Tim Smith
Does my hon. Friend agree that there is an inherent conflict of interest within the Civil Aviation Authority arising from the fact that it is both the principal provider of air traffic control services on the one hand and the official investigator of air misses, which may involve those very air traffic control services, on the other? If he agrees, does he think that the problem might be resolved by privatising the CAA's air traffic control services?

§ Mr. Spicer
The provision of air traffic control services operates in competition with at least three other organisations, There is never any question of there being any conflict of interest on safety. The answer to the question that was asked earlier about whether safety is paramount has to be yes.

§ Mr. Foulkes
Does the Minister not accept that the volume of traffic that is being controlled by the Atlantic centre at Prestwick is rising, and will continue to rise, and that to try to control aeroplanes with a reduced number of air traffic controllers is both a false and a dangerous economy? Will he express these views to the CAA so that we do not end up with an air crash and the Minister having to make a statement at the Dispatch Box to explain that the crash occurred because some poor air traffic controller had been working long hours because of the cuts, with the blame inevitably falling on that poor scapegoat instead of where it ought to fall—on those who are making the economies?

§ Mr. Spicer
I very much hope that the hon. Gentleman is right and that air traffic into Prestwick is increasing from across the Atlantic.

§ Mr. Foulkes
No, through the Atlantic centre.

§ Mr. Spicer
Through the Atlantic system as well, through the Prestwick control. However, the hon. Gentleman is absolutely wrong and, I have to say, almost mischievously wrong, in his implied criticism that safety is being put at risk. I have already stated categorically that during the last 10 years the air traffic control system has progressively become safer and safer. That is the policy of both the CAA and the Government. It is quite another matter to consider whether or not there is some scope for better manning during off-peak periods and also in airports that are not busy. That is all that is being proposed.

§ Mr. Robert Hughes
Will the Minister take to heart the very old adage that prevention is better than cure? 682 Therefore, does he agree that by far the best course of action is to have a proper system of regulations that lay down hours of work and proper rest periods while on duty? Although an air traffic controller may not be hyperactive during a certain period, the fact that he is not doing very much may equally be a cause of fatigue. That matter ought to be looked at very seriously.

§ Mr. Spicer
If the hon. Gentleman is saying that there should be standardised regulations throughout the country, I do not agree. At the busier airports there are already very substantial fatigue periods. Every two hours at a busy airport there is a half an hour fatigue period for air traffic controllers. I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman that standardised regulations are the answer. Airports throughout the country are very different. In some cases there will be a greater requirement for air traffic controllers. For example, as STOLport comes on stream there will be more air traffic controllers. It is a matter for the judgment of the CAA, for a start, which always puts safety at the top of its list of priorities.