London Underground (Hansard, 27 March 2001)

Mr. Gareth R. Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the London Underground public-private partnerships. [155958]

§ Mr. Prescott
Bob Kiley and I today had a full exchange on the state of progress on the PPP negotiations. Mr. Kiley had earlier written to me following the recent talks between the Government and Transport for London. I have now replied to Mr. Kiley setting out the changes to the PPP which both parties had discussed and which the Government had been prepared to consider. These were offered in an attempt to reach an overall agreement on the PPP consistent with Mr. Kiley's aim for "unified management control". I am placing a copy of my letter to Mr. Kiley in the Library.

§ Mr. Brake
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what training was given to London Underground station staff between December 2000 and February 2001 inclusive on procedures to evacuate passengers from crowded station platforms in emergencies. [154564]

§ Mr. Hill
London Underground inform me that they operate a programme of continual training for all of their station staff. They state that the training in evacuation procedures is an important part of this ongoing programme. Station Assistants and Station Supervisors are
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taught evacuation procedures as part of their initial training. When deployed to their first station after training they then have to undertake additional training (including evacuation) to become familiar with that station. London Underground inform me that evacuation plans for central stations are required to be practised every six months and that all station staff have to be included in such training practices. This additional training has to be repeated each time a Station Assistant or Supervisor transfers to another station.

§ Mr. Brake
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if a risk assessment has been carried out on the likely severity of injuries to standing passengers in the event of an accident on the Circle and Hammersmith and City Line Underground.[154559]

§ Mr. Hill
Yes. I understand that London Underground have well-developed safety risk control systems, which are the subject of continuous improvement. Risk assessments have been carried out for a wide range of possible incidents on all Underground Lines. In all cases the risk to standing passengers has been assessed as 'very low'. This is considered by London Underground to be `as low as reasonably practical' under regulations set down by the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974.