§ Mr. DunnTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the Civil Aviation Authority has made a final response to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's report on the CAA's provision of air navigation and air traffic control services to civil aircraft published in July 1990; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Civil Aviation Authority publishes its third and final response today. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library. Hon. Members will see that the final response records all the progress made since the report itself was published.
The authority's initial response, made in December 1990, said that the authority had accepted all but one of the MMC's 40 recommendations. I am pleased to report that 30 of the recommendations have now been fully acted upon—in some cases, the authority has gone even further in implementing the recommendations than was envisaged by the MMC—and substantial progress has been made on a further five which have proved more complex than originally envisaged.
917WIn three instances, practical constraints have meant that the recommendations could not be implemented in precisely the way proposed by the MMC. But the authority is taking all possible steps to fulfil the intent of the recommendations.
In the three years since the report was published, the effects of the recession on the aviation industry have caused the authority to pay special attention to cost control and improved effectiveness. It is to the authority's credit that it has made such good progress in implementing the report against so difficult a background.