§ Mr. Les Huckfieldasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a statement on the latest report from his railways inspector on track, signalling, maintenance and general safety standards.
§ Mr. EyreThe chief inspecting officer of railways in his report on the safety record of the railways in Great Britain during the year 1981, dated 6 September 1982, clearly stated that the railways' policy of putting safety before operational and commercial considerations had prevented any serious erosion of the high safety standards and that he found no evidence that safety had been prejudiced by the railways' current financial difficulties.
I am assured by the chief inspecting officer that there are no indications of a deterioration of safety standards since he issued his report. In particular, accidents from signalling 343W defects remain extremely few and the total number of accidents caused by technical failures, including maintenance, continue to fall. Lastly, it is encouraging to see an overall improvement in the safety of railway staff, with a dramatic fall in the number of persons injured.