§ Mr. Stuart Hollandasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether SNCF anticipates customs inspectors on Channel tunnel trains travelling further than Ashford in pursuit of their duties;
(2) whether any Customs and Excise facilities will be operated at Ashford to handle (a) passenger and (b) freight traffic generated by the Channel tunnel;
(3) whether French customs and excise officials will undertake on-train customs inspection for (a) passengers and (b) freight using the Channel fixed link; and whether they will travel further than Ashford.
§ Mr. Brooke[pursuant to his reply, 20 January 1987, c. 469]: No decisions have been taken about on-train controls for passengers or freight carried on through
786W
Average daily number of available beds in National Health Service hospitals England—All specialties Regional Health Authority/ Special Health Authority 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Northern 25,305 25,283 24,825 24,679 24,728 24,332 23,773 Yorkshire 29,946 29,298 28,959 28,488 28,034 27,470 26,793 Trent 31,712 31,516 30,944 30,744 30,481 30,000 29,391 East Anglian 13,094 13,088 13,038 12,914 13,001 12,727 12,534 North West Thames 27,904 27,116 26,947 25,852 25,342 24,529 23,816 North East Thames 29,443 28,703 28,357 29,298 28,741 27,951 26,854 services. French and United Kingdom Customs are holding discussions with SNCF and British Rail respectively about the controls for through trains. But it is likely that the United Kingdom customs controls would follow the familiar red-green arrangements for passengers terminating their journeys at Ashford or Waterloo and that facilities for shuttle train freight traffic would be provided at a purpose built clearance depot at Ashford.
Customs controls generally are to form part of a protocol to the Treaty at present under discussion covering all frontier controls.