Oral Answers to Questions — Transport – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 22 Ebrill 1991.
Simon Burns
, Chelmsford
12:00,
22 Ebrill 1991
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to introduce legislation to provide for compensation for rail users on lines such as the Chelmsford-Liverpool Street line who suffer from poor quality of service.
Mr Roger Freeman
, Kettering
Not at present, but the best way to improve quality of service is by investment in new rolling stock and infrastructure. That has happened for example on the Northampton route and will happen, in May, for the Chiltern route.
Simon Burns
, Chelmsford
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. In the light of the speech of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the Conservative party central council in Southport, can my hon. Friend the Minister say how the possibility of a citizens' charter would benefit commuters on the Chelmsford-Liverpool Street line and other lines in the British Rail network?
Mr Roger Freeman
, Kettering
I think that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's speech is relevant to British Rail in that it requires quality targets to be set and communicated to customers, and for there to be some form of redress where appropriate. It is certainly appropriate to British Rail, particularly where there are monopolies—one thinks, for instance, of Network SouthEast. British Rail is already moving towards setting fare increases directly related to the achievement of quality on individual lines—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott) laughs, but he will know that there is a distinction between the service from Southend to Liverpool Street—where a real fare increase followed an improvement in the quality of service—and the service from Southend and Fenchurch Street, where there has been no real fare increase because there has been no improvement.
Diane Abbott
, Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Does the Secretary of State accept that, as well as the plight of Chelmsford to Liverpool Street commuters, he should consider the plight of commuters in London generally? It has been revealed today that London is the most expensive commuter city in Europe—[Interruption.]
Mr Tony Banks
, Newham North West
I am sorry, Mr. Speaker. It was my fault.
Diane Abbott
, Hackney North and Stoke Newington
We pay more in general and more for single journeys. Why should London commuters continue to pay astronomical fares for an increasingly shabby and sub-standard service?
Mr Roger Freeman
, Kettering
The hon. Lady should ask the Labour party spokesmen on the subject. I suspect that they would not agree with her, and neither would I.
Mr Tony Banks
, Newham North West
Come on.
Mr Roger Freeman
, Kettering
If the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) will restrain himself, I will answer the question.
I am sure that neither the Opposition spokesmen nor the Government would agree that it would be a sensible course of action now to cut fares on Network SouthEast. Investment would be a much better use of resources. Would the hon. Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms. Abbott) cut fares and, therefore, investment?
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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Mr Bernard Weatherill
, Croydon North East