HL Deb 26 January 1978 vol 388 cc465-7

3.8 p.m.

Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in view of the statement made at column 679 on the 17th November last concerning the meeting of the ECAC Working Group to be held on 6th to 8th December, they are now in a position to outline the progress made concerning the application of the overbooking compensation scheme to return flights resulting from an original booking made in the United Kingdom on British airlines so that a passenger may be covered for the whole of his ticket and not as at present for half of it; and whether it will be possible to include in the Official Report the paper prepared by the Working Group of the European Civil Aviation Conference.

Lord ORAM

My Lords, the application of the over-booking compensation scheme to return flights fell within the scope of the questionnaire which was put to Member States of the European Civil Aviation Conference by the Working Group at the request of the Directors General. The Working Group, on 6th-8th December, agreed to put a number of recommendations to the Directors General and those recommendations are expected to be considered by the Directors General at their next meeting. The ECAC Working Group is a junior part of the machinery of ECAC and the paper considered by it was a working paper and not a document prepared for publication.

Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY

My Lords, I know that it is not the fault of my noble friend, but is he aware that this type of bureaucratic procedure is really quite intolerable? Does he recall that I first of all asked for this matter to be referred to ECAC on 11th October 1976; that his Department referred it to them on 5th May 1977; that the Secretary of State wrote to me on 12th July supporting this and saying that he would agree that agreement between European carriers would be a valuable step forward? Now, when is the next meeting of the Directors General?

Lord ORAM

My Lords I fully recognise what my noble friend has said about the long timetable that is involved here. However, as I have told her on a previous occasion, once you get into international fora there are inevitable lengthy procedures, and this applies to this particular conference. It was, as my noble friend said, she herself who recommended to us—and we took up her suggestion—that we should put the matter into this particular forum. Having taken the initiative and having taken the lead in this conference, I am afraid that we cannot alter their procedures, and I am sorry to say that the Directors General who are to pronounce on the recommendations meet only twice yearly; the next meeting therefore will be in June.

Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY

My Lords, as the Secretary of State has been most helpful in this matter, may I ask my noble friend to see that this Question and Answer go to Mr. Dell with a view to seeing whether he can do anything to expedite it? Is my noble friend aware that the one thing I wanted was for this not to get into the international arena because I knew what would happen to it? Rather, I wanted it to remain in the somewhat smaller one of ECAC.

Lord ORAM

My Lords, ECAC is an international arena and I was referring to ECAC when I replied to my noble friend's first supplementary question. Certainly my right honourable friend will be aware—I will make sure of it—of the Question she has asked, as he has been aware of the many Questions that have been asked on this subject.

Baroness BURTON of COVENTRY

ECAC is European, my Lords.

Lord ORAM

That is international, is it not, my Lords?

Lord TREFGARNE

My Lords, why is it that the document to which the noble Lord referred in his Answer, and which is referred to in the Question, is confidential? If it is not possible to put it in the Official Report, may we have a copy of it in the Library?

Lord ORAM

No, I am afraid not, my Lords. This is not a British document in any sense. It comes from a Working Group within the European Conference, a subsidiary group of the conference as a whole. The paper which they prepared was a working paper for recommendations to the Directors General, so it has no status in this country which would enable me to give publication to it, including the course which the noble Lord suggests.