§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 7 July, to the hon. Member for Leeds, Central (Mr. Fatchett),Official Report, column 447, what assessment he has made of the appropriateness of the payment of £500 to members of the Railtrack board for attendance at a board meeting.
§ The Prime MinisterAll Railtrack board payments were agreed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport and by the Treasury before Railtrack was established. No additional payments have been introduced since that time.
Non-executive directors of Railtrack receive a £500 fee for each meeting of one of the board's committees—safety, environment and health; audit; and remuneration—which they attend as a member. Each committee meets up to four times a year, and no non-executive director is a member of more than two. They receive a separate annual fee of £10,000 for their main board duties.
These payments are consistent with the Treasury guidelines on nationalised industry board members' appointments, pay and bonuses.