British Railways (Serpell Report)

Part of Bill Presented – in the House of Commons at 4:44 pm on 3 February 1983.

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Photo of Mr David Howell Mr David Howell , Guildford 4:44, 3 February 1983

I shall not give way any more because it is time we heard a few facts.

I shall list some of the investment approvals for this year. They include the west of England resignalling, the Anglian electrification programme, the lightweight diesel multiple unit investment, an entire generation of new ticket machines and the Glasgow-Ayr electrification. Those are important projects. We also accept the case for a major new investment in the Tonbridge-Hastings line, although a decision has yet to be taken on precisely what form that will take. So any suggestion that no investment is going on—I think at one stage the right hon. Gentleman used that phrase—is again false and misleads people about what is going on in British Rail.

The right hon. Gentleman did not touch on new organisation, which is part of his general wish for British Rail's affairs and problems not to be discussed and debated, but to be pushed constantly aside. During the past year, Sir Peter Parker and Mr. Bob Reid, the chief executive, have developed the concept of what they call sector management, which is, for the first time in the history of the nationalised enterprise, organising the different sectors and the different businesses under separate management structures. That is an excellent start. It immediately throws up healthy questions—the right hon. Gentleman does not seem to like questions about British Rail—within the different sectors as to whether they have to buy in from the central services, and whether to pay overheads to run the inter-city business or the freight business in the way that they have in the past. These are healthy management developments.

I also noticed that during the Serpell inquiry the board of southern region put forward the proposition that southern region might be organised as a separate and independent company. The board put that forward for good reasons concerned with management, loyalty, good work practices and a good service to the passenger and the customer. If the right hon. Gentleman will not consider the issues raised by the Serpell report, and is not interested in the future, may I persuade him—may I try to turn his mind—to begin thinking about a structure for our railways and for British Rail in the future that is an improvement on the pattern that we have inherited over the past 30 years, which has come down to us from vesting day in January 1949? That is a long time for any single organisation to stay in one mould. The right hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends would do a much greater service to the railways if they would open their minds and began the debate on these issues instead of rushing to table a motion saying that the report should be dismissed and suppressed.

I suggest also that the right hon. Gentleman might open his mind, although I do not believe that he will be able to do so, to the opportunities of private capital. There are certainly opportunities, recognised by British Rail although not by the right hon. Gentleman, for joint ventures and for opportunities with private capital. I do not know what is the right hon. Gentleman's mood on this issue. I have seen reports in the newspapers, as he has, that there is a possibility of private catering operating on some British Rail lines. If I say that I encourage private catering, will I then be accused by the right hon. Gentleman of public sector asset-stripping? I suppose I will, but I believe that that would be a wholly negative attitude.