HC Deb 18 April 1988 vol 131 cc539-40
8. Mr. Boateng

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to make additional financial provision for improvements in safety standards on the London Underground.

Mr. David Mitchell

We await proposals from London Regional Transport for any additional expenditure which may be necessary as a result of the lessons learnt from the King's Cross fire. These will be carefully considered during this year's investment and financing review.

Mr. Boateng

Did the Minister or the Secretary of State receive any advice from the railway inspectorate, either before or after the tragedy at King's Cross, about the need for further investment in safety by London Regional Transport? Can he assure the House, in the light of widespread concern, particularly among users of the Metropolitan, Jubilee and Bakerloo lines, that any necessary investment will not await the outcome of the report, but will be put in hand immediately?

Mr. Mitchell

The answer to the first question is no. The answer to the second question is that London Underground is planning 50 per cent. more investment in real terms next year than in 1984–85, the last year for which the GLC had responsibility. Moreover, it is planning to spend this year the equivalent of 45 per cent. of its turnover on investment. I do not know of any other corporation in the country that is planning to invest on that scale.

Mr. Harry Greenway

Will my hon. Friend consider the problems of muggings and other crimes of violence, including robbery, that take place on underground stations and trains late at night, particularly on trains with no guards? Sometimes a train is virtually empty, so people cannot move to a carriage that is occupied.

Mr. Mitchell

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for drawing attention to this matter. We have provided an additional £15 million to fight crime on the London Underground. Recently, I had discussions with the British Transport police to see what can be done to learn the lessons of the effective changes that they have made on the southern end of the Northern line and to employ them elsewhere.

Mr. Robert Hughes

Will the Minister not be so defensive as to answer questions different from those that he has been asked? The question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng) related specifically to investment in safety, but the Minister chose to answer about general investment programmes. Is he aware that on 19 November, the day after the King's Cross disaster, I asked the Secretary of State whether LRT would consider quickly the lessons to be learnt from that disaster, make any necessary investment, and take action immediately rather than wait for the report to be finished? Is it not sad that five months later my hon. Friend and other hon. Members should be asking the same question about how seriously LRT takes safety? Will the Minister meet LRT and Sir Keith Bright so that no further criticisms can be made at the inquiry about lackadaisical attitudes to safety?

Mr. Mitchell

I think that, unintentionally, the hon. Gentleman is being a little unfair. I assure him that I have had meetings with Dr. Ridley about this subject and received assurances that anything deemed to be necessary for safety will not be held up by LRT's management until the completion of the inquiry.