Stafford and Ais Gill Rail Crashes

HC Deb 24 July 1996 vol 282 c346W

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he intends to publish the report into the Stafford and Ais Gill rail crashes. [38531]

Mr. Watts

The report of the inquiry into Ais Gill is to be compiled by an inspecting officer of the Health and Safety Executive's railway inspectorate, who has been appointed as an assessor to the coroner under the regulation of the Railways Act 1871 to assist with the inquest. The inspector's report will be completed and published as soon as the coroner has conducted the inquest. In the meantime, the recommendations made by the inspecting officer as a result of his investigations have been implemented by the railways.

The publication of the report into the Stafford (Rickerscote) rail crash is a matter for the Health and Safety Commission. A report will be issued when the HSE's complex technical investigation into the crash is complete.