§ Tom BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 19 November 2001,Official Report, columns 33–34W, on London Underground, how many lost passenger hours in 2000–01 were attributable to the Infracos and how many to London Underground; what is the total equivalent number of Infraco-attributable lost customer hours for the whole of 2001–02 so far; what penalty would have been incurred by each Infraco during 2000–01 as a result of the attributable lost customer hours; and what penalty would have been incurred by each Infraco for 2001–02 so far. [22751]
§ Mr. JamiesonLondon Underground have been "shadow running" the PPP contracts in the public sector since April 2000 to ensure they are robust for transfer to the private sector. In the light of that experience the initial performance benchmarks have been reset, generally to make the benchmark level of performance higher. This means that there will be realistic benchmarks in place from the start of the PPP contracts. As a result London Underground and not the Infraco will benefit from improvements in performance in the period before transfer of the infrastructure companies to the private sector.
Data on lost customer hours and Infraco penalties are operational matters for London Underground, who have provided the information below.
During 2000–01, 18 million indicative lost customer hours were attributable to London Underground. For the lost customer hour figures for the Infracos for the same period, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 19 November 2001, Official Report, columns 33–34W. For the period 1 April to 11 December 2001, 13 million indicative lost customer hours were attributable to the Infracos.
For 2000–01, the abatement figures (penalty payments to London Underground incurred by Infracos) would, on the basis of the set of benchmarks then in place, have been: £6 million for Infraco BCV; and £2 million each for Infracos JNP and SSL.
For the period 1 April to 11 December 2001, on the basis of the earlier benchmarks, the abatement figure for Infraco SSL would have been £9 million. Infracos BCV and JNP would have received bonus payments from London Underground of £3 million and £1 million respectively. Levels of payment would have been different, and generally lower, on the basis of the reset benchmarks. London Underground will shortly set the final performance benchmarks based on performance during shadow running of the contracts.