§ Mr. CrausbyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the non-disclosed conclusions of the report of her investigation into the power cuts that affected(a) areas of London and Kent on 28 August 2003 and (b) the West Midlands on 5 September 2003. [153920]
§ Mr. TimmsI refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made to the House on 22 January 2004, in which I explained that the conclusions and recommendations of the investigation undertaken by DTI's Engineering Inspectorate were being passed to the electricity companies concerned on a confidential basis, so that they could take the necessary action to enhance the robustness of their networks.
§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether she has made requests to the Board of National Grid Transco to permit her to disclose the findings of the Engineering Inspectorate's investigation into the cause of the power cuts in London and the West Midlands last August; and if she will make a statement. [154213]
§ Mr. TimmsAs I explained to the House on 22 January, recommendations and conclusions of the Engineering Inspectorate's investigation were being passed to the companies concerned on a confidential basis. The Engineering Inspectorate is holding confidential discussions with the companies concerned and monitoring the action they take. In my statement I drew attention to the fact that, the material gathered in connection with the investigation is commercially sensitive and its disclosure is restricted by the provisions of the Utilities Act 2000. Those considerations continue to apply to the on-going discussions between the Engineering Inspectorate and the companies and therefore no requests have been made to the companies for agreement to disclosure.