§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each year since its creation the number of warning letters issued by HM Railway Inspectorate to Railtrack plc. [41564]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) Railway Inspectorate advise that the information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each year since its creation prosecutions taken by HM Railway Inspectorate against Railtrack plc. [41563]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe Health and Safety Executive's (HSE's) Railway Inspectorate has initiated two prosecutions against Railtrack plc since its creation. The first followed an electrical burns incident at Hatton in Warwickshire on 24 July 1995. Railtrack pleaded not guilty but were found guilty. The second prosecution followed a derailment at Bexley on 4 February 1997. This is expected to be heard on 26 May 1998.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter issued by HM Railway154W Inspectorate to Eurotunnel as detailed in Paragraph 63 of the Annual report of the Channel Tunnel Safety Authority 1996–97. [41560]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonIt is not the practice of Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate to make public the contents of private correspondence with duty holders.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will place in the Library a copy of the report produced by the Rail Safety and Technology Working Group relating to signals passed at red in the Channel Tunnel. [41559]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonI am not in a position to do so.
This report was a working document produced by the Rail Safety and Technology Working Group to inform the Safety Authority and contains information supplied by Eurotunnel. Disclosure would be a breach of Clause 33 of the Concession Agreement of 1986 concerning intellectual property and confidentiality.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the main contractors employed by Railtrack to undertake maintenance work, and the names of any contractors or sub-contractors removed from any approved lists since the creation of Railtrack. [41568]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThis is a commercial matter for Railtrack.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each year since its creation the number of occurrences where unqualified staff or contractors have been found undertaking work on railway property on behalf of Railtrack plc. [41566]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe Health and Safety Executive has no records of the numbers of such occurrences.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each of the last five years the number of derailments officially notified to HM Railway Inspectorate and the train operating companies involved. [41567]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Thomas) on 7 May 1998,Official Report, columns 441–42.