§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what value for preventing a fatality is used in assessments conducted(a) by and (b) for his Department from the fitting of (i) train protection and warning system, (ii) ERTMS level 1, (iii) ERTMS level 2 and (iv) ERTMS level 3. [72944]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Health and Safety Executive tell me that in the regulatory impact assessment, which they conducted for the train protection and warning system, a figure of £2.65 million (1997–98 prices) was used for the prevention of fatalities in railway accidents. This is broadly equivalent to the figure of £3.46 million (2002–03 prices) currently used by Railway Safety for the prevention of multiple fatalities or where the risks are close to intolerable.
The report on ERTMS, published earlier this year by Railway Safety and the Strategic Rail Authority, did not use an explicit value for preventing a fatality.
Following research into the willingness of individuals to pay for reductions in risk and independent expert evidence given to the Ladbroke Grove public inquiry, the Health and Safety Executive no longer encourages the use of a higher figure than that used by the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency for appraising road risk. This is £1.14 million at 2000 prices.