§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps his Department(a) has taken and (b) plans to take to address skill shortages within the railway industry. [40945]
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§ Mr. JamiesonThe Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) will take the lead on proposals for a National Rail Academy, to promote the development of the key skills and competencies needed to run a railway on a safe and effective basis. The SRA will also become a member of the Rail Industry Training Council and will work jointly with the Department of Education and Skills to promote an action plan on manpower planning, recruitment and training and development.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if the £8.1 billion of uncommitted public investment in rail in the 10 year plan is intended to meet repayment and interest due as a result of private sector investment in the plan. [41762]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe £8.1 billion of uncommitted public capital funding, along with the rest of the £33.5 billion of public sector funding, will work in partnership with the private sector investment to deliver our Ten Year Plan objectives for rail. It will be allocated in the most cost-effective and efficient way to deliver much needed investment in the railways.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the responsibilities held by his Department which will be transferred to the European Railways Agency. [41757]
§ Mr. JamiesonNone. The European Commission's draft Regulation to establish a European Railway Agency (COM(2002)23 Final) indicates that the Agency will have no autonomous decision-making powers and that its responsibilities will be limited to carrying out technical work on behalf of the European Commission and the member states.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether the Department's modelling of rail demand for the 10 year plan period took into account differing levels of service reliability and overcrowding. [41655]
§ Mr. JamiesonYes, with the results of their impact under the basecase and our Ten Year Plan investment case outlined in Chapters 2 and 3 of the Ten Year Plan Background Analysis document.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what proportion of the total 10 year plan spending targets will be taken up by revenue support for private investment. [41664]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe 10 Year Plan assumes that £8.5 billion of the £134 billion of public expenditure in the Plan provides revenue support for £56.3 billion of private investment. However to avoid double counting when adding public expenditure and private investment together, revenue support for private investment is not included in the 10 Year Plan total of £l181.9 billion. Therefore it is not appropriate to provide a figure for revenue support as a proportion of this total figure. However revenue support for private investment represents 6.3 per cent. of public expenditure in the plan.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if the working groups for the TSIs on European rail interoperability have met; and if he will make a statement. [41734]
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§ Mr. JamiesonThe working groups that are responsible for drafting the rail interoperability Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs) have been meeting since 1996 when the high-speed rail interoperability Directive (96/48/EC) came into force. These working groups have now started work on TSIs for conventional rail, following adoption of the conventional rail interoperability Directive (2001/16/EC) last year. The interoperability "Article 21 Committee", the committee comprising the European Commission and the member states that formally adopts the TSIs, has also met regularly since 1996.
§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions who will be representing the UK on the working groups on the TSIs on European rail interoperability. [41735]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe working groups to draft the rail interoperability Technical Specifications Interoperability (TSI's) have been set up under the auspices of AEIF, the European Association for Railway Interoperability. AEIF comprises representatives from the UIC (the International Union of Railways), UNIFE (the Union of European Railway Industries) and UITP (the International Union of Public Transport) and the working group representatives are drawn from these organisations based on individual nominations by member companies.
The UK is well represented on these working groups, from both railway companies including Railway Safety and manufacturing industry. The UK is also represented on the interoperability "Article 21 Committee", the committee comprising the European Commission and the member states that formally adopts the TSIs. Until the end of 2001, representation was provided by the Department, but the Strategic Rail Authority has now taken over this role.
§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how often he receives reports on(a) punctuality, (b) cancellations, (c) investments made and (d) the safety record of the railways. [41291]
§ Mr. SpellarI receive a range of reports and information, in the course of day to day business, on the operation of and investment in the railways.