Aerial image of the landslip and derailed train

At 06:47 hrs on Monday 22 January 2018, a passenger train travelling between Mallaig and Glasgow Queen Street struck a landslip. The leading vehicle derailed and tilted to the left. There were no injuries among the five passengers and two crew on board. Passengers were evacuated to the nearest road access by a specialist rail vehicle and then transported by taxi.

The landslip was on a remote section of track between Lochailort and Glenfinnan where the line runs across sloping ground above the shore of Loch Eilt. The accident happened in darkness following a period when significant snow melt occurred at the same time as moderately heavy rainfall. The landslip originated above the railway boundary. A proportion of the several hundred tonnes of material that slipped was deposited on the railway. This destroyed a section of a fence installed recently to protect the railway from individual loose boulders rolling down the adjacent slope.

Our investigation will seek to identify the sequence of events which led to the accident and will consider:

• the arrangements for protecting the railway from landslip debris at this location
• Network Rail’s procedures for managing the combined effect of rain and melting snow
• any underlying management factors

Our investigation is independent of any investigation by the railway industry or by the industry’s regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.

We will publish our findings, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of our investigation. This report will be available on our website.

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Published 6 February 2018

The Moixa team.

Today the Bank of England has issued Statements of Commitment to the FX Global Code, the UK Money Markets Code and Global Precious Metals Code (the “Codes”).

These Statements of Commitment cover the Bank’s activities in these markets, including when acting as agent for HM Treasury to manage the UK official reserves in the Exchange Equalisation Account (the EEA). HM Treasury is content that the Bank’s internal practices and processes are aligned with the principles of the Codes when acting as their agent for the EEA.

HM Treasury acknowledges that the Codes represent a set of principles recognised as good practice in these markets and fully supports their widespread adoption by market participants. This will help to promote the integrity and effective functioning of these respective markets.

This work follows the Fair and Effective Markets Review which was launched by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England in June 2014 to reinforce confidence in the wholesale Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) markets in the wake of the serious misconduct seen in recent years; and to influence the international debate on trading practices. The FEMR final report published in June 2015 by HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority included a recommendation to launch international action to raise standards in global FICC markets by agreeing a new single global FX code.

The FX Global Code was published in May 2017 outlining principles of good practice for all FX market participants in order to promote the integrity and effective functioning of the wholesale FX market. In the UK, the FX Global Code supersedes and substantively updates existing guidance for participants in FX markets previously provided by the Non-investment Products (NIPs) Code. Guidance on other markets covered by the NIPS Code has been superseded by the UK Money Markets Code published in April 2017, endorsed by the Bank of England’s Money Markets Committee (MMC); and by the Global Precious Metals Code published in May 2017 by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

Passengers in South West Wales are on track to get improved rail journeys, as the UK Government seeks views of people in Carmarthen and Swansea on how they want the Great Western rail service to look in the future.

The UK Government has launched a consultation on the future of the Great Western Franchise and is asking passengers, businesses and local councils for their views at two consultation events on 13 February 2018.

Join the conversation at:

• The Atrium, Gorseinon Development Trust, Gorseinon, Swansea between 2pm – 4pm
• Teifi Suite, Halliwell Centre, UWTSD Carmarthen Campus between 6pm – 8pm

Billions of pounds are being spent to upgrade services for passengers on Great Western, which carries 100 million passengers a year and stretches from London to Pembroke Dock and from Portsmouth to Worcester.

Passengers are already experiencing improvements to their journeys across south Wales on brand-new bi-mode IEP trains which provide more seats and more comfortable journeys. Timetable changes will also mean faster and more frequent trips on many routes by 2019.

In order to ensure that the next Great Western Rail franchise is delivering what people want, Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns is calling on people to attend the UK Government events in Carmarthen and Swansea to have their say on how future services can be better shaped to deliver for passengers in south west Wales.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

Our railways provide vital links for rural communities, businesses and visitors across south Wales. It makes perfect sense that those that use the services every day should have their say in improving these services.

This consultation discusses ways in which we can give the professionals who run our railways more flexibility to innovate and to provide the best solutions for passengers. We want to hear your views about how you’d like that to work in practice and what can be done to improve it.

The UK Government has decided to extend the franchise for the current operator Great Western Railway (GWR) until March 2020 to make sure passengers get the best possible service while current route upgrades are carried out.

And we will also seek to agree terms for them to continue operating until 2022, which will to allow the improved services to bed in fully before running a competition for a new long-term franchise.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns added:

The UK Government is investing in the biggest modernisation of the railways for over a century. Working with GWR, we are bringing the very latest in rail technology to some of the world’s oldest lines, putting passengers first so that they benefit from a transformational programme of upgrades as quickly as possible.

The benefits of these improvements will be felt right across the franchise area. But as the franchise continues to grow into the 2020s, we want to ensure every line, station and passenger remains central to the train operator’s strategy. This consultation asks passengers how they want their railway to look into the 2020s and beyond and how it will best deliver for them.

The consultation will close on 21 February.

The report covers e-cigarette use among young people and adults, public attitudes, the impact on quitting smoking, an update on risks to health and the role of nicotine. It also reviews heated tobacco products.

The main findings of PHE’s evidence review are that:

• vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks of smoking and switching completely from smoking to vaping conveys substantial health benefits
• e-cigarettes could be contributing to at least 20,000 successful new quits per year and possibly many more
• e-cigarette use is associated with improved quit success rates over the last year and an accelerated drop in smoking rates across the country
• many thousands of smokers incorrectly believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking; around 40% of smokers have not even tried an e-cigarette
• there is much public misunderstanding about nicotine (less than 10% of adults understand that most of the harms to health from smoking are not caused by nicotine)
• the use of e-cigarettes in the UK has plateaued over the last few years at just under 3 million
• the evidence does not support the concern that e-cigarettes are a route into smoking among young people (youth smoking rates in the UK continue to decline, regular use is rare and is almost entirely confined to those who have smoked)

PHE’s evidence review comes just a few weeks after a US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on e-cigarettes. Their conclusion on e-cigarette safety also finds that based on the available evidence ‘e-cigarettes are likely to be far less harmful than combustible tobacco cigarettes.’

Professor John Newton, Director for Health Improvement at PHE said:

Every minute someone is admitted to hospital from smoking, with around 79,000 deaths a year in England alone.

Our new review reinforces the finding that vaping is a fraction of the risk of smoking, at least 95% less harmful, and of negligible risk to bystanders. Yet over half of smokers either falsely believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking or just don’t know.

It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about their safety.

Professor Ann McNeill, lead author and Professor of Tobacco Addiction at King’s College London said:

It’s of great concern that smokers still have such a poor understanding about what causes the harm from smoking. When people smoke tobacco cigarettes, they inhale a lethal mix of 7,000 smoke constituents, 70 of which are known to cause cancer.

People smoke for the nicotine, but contrary to what the vast majority believe, nicotine causes little if any of the harm. The toxic smoke is the culprit and is the overwhelming cause of all the tobacco-related disease and death. There are now a greater variety of alternative ways of getting nicotine than ever before, including nicotine gum, nasal spray, lozenges and e-cigarettes.

Professor Linda Bauld, author and Professor of Health Policy, University of Stirling and Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention, Cancer Research UK said:

Concern has been expressed that e-cigarette use will lead young people into smoking. But in the UK, research clearly shows that regular use of e-cigarettes among young people who have never smoked remains negligible, less than 1%, and youth smoking continues to decline at an encouraging rate. We need to keep closely monitoring these trends, but so far the data suggest that e-cigarettes are not acting as a route into regular smoking amongst young people.

PHE is calling on smokers and a number of bodies to act on the evidence.

Smokers

Anyone who has struggled to quit should try switching to an e-cigarette and get professional help. The greatest quit success is among those who combine using an e-cigarette with support from a local stop smoking service.

Local stop smoking services and healthcare professionals

These should provide behavioural support to those smokers wanting to quit with the help of an e-cigarette. A new training course on e-cigarettes for healthcare professionals by the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training is now live.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

MHRA continue their work in regulating and licensing e-cigarette products and support manufacturers to expedite the licensing of e-cigarettes as medicinal quit aids. PHE believes there is compelling evidence that e-cigarettes be made available to NHS patients.

NHS Trusts

To become truly smokefree, Trusts should ensure

• e-cigarettes, alongside nicotine replacement therapies are available for sale in hospital shops
• vaping policies support smokers to quit and stay smokefree
• smoking shelters be removed
• frontline staff take every opportunity to encourage and support patients to quit

The government’s new Tobacco Control Plan for England includes a commitment to ‘maximise the availability of safer alternatives to smoking’. It makes clear that e-cigarettes have an important part to play in achieving the ambition for a smokefree generation.

Background

1. McNeill A, Brose LS, Calder R, Bauld L & Robson D (2018). [Evidence review of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. A report commissioned by Public Health England. London: Public Health England. Read the report.
2. Over the past few years, e-cigarette use has hovered at just under 6% of the adult population in Britain. The most common reason for e-cigarette use continues to be to help with quitting and they are the most popular quitting tool in England. At the same time, quit success rates have been improving and we are also seeing an accelerated drop in smoking rates (currently 15.5% in England): smokinginengland.info/latest-statistics.
3. 79,000 people in England die every year as a result of smoking, and over half of long-term smokers will die from a smoking-related illness if they do not quit: digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB24228.
4. PHE 2015 e-cigarettes evidence review: McNeill A., P. Hajek et al, E-cigarettes – an evidence update: A report commissioned by Public Health England, Public Health England, August.
5. Authors’note on evidence for ‘around 95% safer’ estimate.
6. Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction, Royal College of Physicians, April 2016.
7. Smoking Toolkit Study.
8. ASH (May 2017) Use of e-cigarettes (vapourisers) among adults in Great Britain.
9. Bauld, Linda, Anne Marie MacKintosh, Brian Eastwood, Allison Ford, Graham Moore, Martin Dockrell, Deborah Arnott, Hazel Cheeseman, and Ann McNeill. ‘Young people’s use of e-cigarettes across the United Kingdom: Findings from five surveys 2015–2017.’ International journal of environmental research and public health 14, no. 9 (2017): 973.
10. Towards a Smokefree Generation: A Tobacco Control Plan for England Department of Health, July 2017.
11. NHS Digital, Statistics on Smoking: England, 2017.
12. US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (January 2018) Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes.

About Public Health England

Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. We do this through world-leading science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and providing specialist public health services. We are an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and a distinct organisation with operational autonomy. We provide government, local government, the NHS, Parliament, industry and the public with evidence-based professional, scientific expertise and support. Follow us on Twitter: @PHE_uk and Facebook: www.facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland.