§ 14. Mr. Spriggsasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take into consideration the savings in financial terms, and time, when the line from Preston station to Blackpool is electrified when making his decision on authorising the electrification.
§ Mr. David HowellI do not know whether this scheme will be in the 10-year programme of electrification that I have asked the Railways Board to submit. If the board wishes to make a case for it separately from the 10-year programme I shall consider what criteria it might be appropriate to apply in addition to the normal investment criteria.
I have now announced my approval of the electrification of rail services between Colchester, Norwich and Harwich.
458Wgives the available information. Because of industrial action at employment offices in January 1975 the national and regional figures were estimated for that date and statistics were not produced below regional level. The figures in the table include school leavers and are not seasonally adjusted.