§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with British Rail concerning the inquiry in the ticket fraud involving Enterprise Rail. [15159]
§ Mr. WattsI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Falmouth and Cambourne (Mr. Coe) on 9 February,Official Report, columns 374–75.
§ Mr. PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the procedures currently in place to identify(a) fraud and (b) potential fraud in the railway industry. [15160]
§ Mr. WattsThe ticketing and settlement agreement, a scheme which is contractually binding on all train operators, provides for extensive independent auditing and monitoring of compliance with its terms. Regular, routine checks are carried out by Rail Settlement Plan, a limited company established under the agreement. Passenger operators are required to allow RSP's representatives access to their premises, personnel and records for the purposes of compliance monitoring. It was through these independent auditing arrangements that recent ticketing irregularities involving LTS Rail were detected.