§ Mrs. Anne CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the Transport Safety Review. [125715]
425W
§ Mr. HillThe terms of reference of the Transport Safety Review were announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Hamilton, North and Bellshill (Dr. Reid) in December 1998. Consultation took place last year, and the work of the review has subsequently been taken forward under the chairmanship of this Department. Following the tragic rail crash at Ladbroke Grove on 5 October the Public Inquiry ordered by the Health and Safety Commission and chaired by Lord Cullen is considering rail safety management, culture and regulation. Because it is important that the Inquiry's work is not pre-empted in any way, we have concluded that it would be wrong to take a view on potentially fundamental changes to the organisation of transport safety before the Inquiry is complete. We will then need to consider the advice on the Inquiry report which will be submitted to us by the Health and Safety Commission.
A report of the outcome of the consultation and the analysis undertaken by the Transport Safety Review has been placed in the Libraries of the House. The report is also being made available to the Ladbroke Grove Inquiry.