§ 22. Mr. Robin F. Cookasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the reduction in numbers of the work force employed on the railways in the period from 1955 to date.
§ Mr. Marks346,412 in all. Some 26,600 of this total comprise staff who were transferred to the National Freight Corporation on 31st December 1968.
§ 66. Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give a general direction to British Railways to collect and publish the necessary statistics to assess the performance and viability of individual railway lines.
§ Dr. GilbertNo. In my view the Railways Board should be required to collect only the statistics which it considers are needed for the management of its business. However, separate calculations are made whenever the withdrawal of a particular passenger service is being considered.
§ Mr. Fryasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the estimated cost to public funds, including all grants, of British Rail's railway operations in each of the years 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975.
§ Dr. GilbertThe net cash flow from central Government and local government to the British Railways Board was as follows:
£million 1972 … … … … 120.3 1973 … … … … 153 1974 … … … … 393.5 1975 … … … … 545
§ Mr. Fryasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total grant on British Rail's unremunerative passenger services in respect of what level of loss on such services as defined in the Transport Act 1968 for each of the years 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975.
§ Dr. GilbertGrants to unremunerative passenger services under Section 39 of the Transport Act 1968 to cover the total operating deficits of these lines, as556W shown in the Board's published accounts, were as follows:
£million 1972 … … … 59.9 1973 … … … 81.2 1974 … … … 139.7 There are no comparable figures for 1975, since compensation was paid for the net costs of operating the rail passenger system as a whole according to the obligation placed upon the Railways Board under section 3 of the Railways Act 1974.
§ Mr. Fryasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the estimated profit or loss before grant on British Rail's freight services for each of the years 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975.
§ Dr. GilbertUnder the current accounting conventions the loss in 1975 is expected to be £70 million. Estimates of profit or loss for earlier years cannot be made since costs were not allocated to the various sectors of the railway business on a comparable basis before the Railways Act 1974.
§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what support he proposes for railway services for the year 1976–77.
§ Dr. GilbertI would refer my hon. Friend to Table 2.6 in the White Paper on Public Expenditure to 1979–80 (Cmnd. 6393).