asked the Minister of Transport if he has discussed with British Railways the possibility of accounting the costs and benefits of rail services outside the Inter-City network that are loss-making in revenue terms but provide an essential local transport service.

No. But the Board is making progress with its avoidable costing system.

asked the Minister of Transport if he will ensure that all proposed closures of passenger services will be referred to a public hearing by a transport users' consultative committee.

The Transport Acts 1962 and 1968 already provide for objections to a proposed passenger rail closure to be put to the relevant area transport users consultative committee. The committee then normally holds a public hearing into the objections before reporting to me on any hardship that the closure would be likely to cause to users. The final decision on the closure is then for me to take.