Mr. G. Wilsonasked the Minister of Transport whether he is satisfied with the arrangements for transport users' consultative committees, in carrying out their responsibilities under Section 56 of the Transport Act, 1962, to receive financial information about proposed passenger railway closures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MarplesThe duties of the Committees under Section 56 of the Transport Act, 1962, in relation to a passenger closure proposal are to report to me on any hardship which they consider it would cause. They can also make suggestions for alleviating hardship.
Under the Act no duty is laid upon the British Railways Board to provide the Committees with financial information, or upon the Committees to assess the financial grounds for a passenger closure proposal. The Board has, however, agreed to provide the Committees with certain financial and other figures to assist the Committees in their task.
I have had no complaints from Transport Users' Consultative Committees about the information which the Railways Board has agreed to provide. But, in view of the interest expressed from time to time by hon. Members and others in this subject, I decided to arrange for an independent investigation with the object of establishing the appropriate figures for the Railways Board to give the Transport Users' Consultative Committees. On 2nd August, therefore, on the advice of the President of 254W the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, I invited Sir William Carrington, a past President of the Institute, to carry out this task. He has now reported and, with permission, I am placing a copy of his Report in the Library of each House. Subject to safeguards to secure uniformity of presentation as between one region and another, and certain minor alterations in the method of preparing the figures, Sir William Carrington's main conclusion is that the figures currently supplied by the Railways Board are appropriate for the purposes of the Consultative Committees.
I have brought the Report to the attention of the Chairmen of the British Railways Board and the London Transport Board and also to that of the Chairman of the Central Transport Consultative Committee who is sending copies of it to the Area Committees.