HL Deb 03 July 1963 vol 251 cc882-3

2.44 p.m.

LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTH

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether progress can be reported with the scheme for denoting the maximum gross permitted weight of a goods carrying vehicle by means of a visible plate attached to the vehicle, in accordance with undertakings given during debates in this House, in particular that of November 21, 1962.]

THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD CHESHAM)

My Lords, my right honourable friend has set up his Departmental Committee to examine ways and means of developing a plating scheme with the object of recommending what form the scheme should take and what legislative action would be required. Its work has started and is making progress.

LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTH

My Lords, will the noble Lord accept my thanks for the helpfulness of his reply? Considering that it is now thirty years since I first advocated this scheme, I think the noble Lord will agree that that is progress. But may I ask the noble Lord whether he will impress upon his right honourable friend that we shall never get to grips with the problem of the safety of goods carrying vehicles on the roads until this scheme is in force? Because it is the weight of the load which is the major contributory factor to the mechanical fitness of the vehicle that carries it.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, in view of what I said in the discussion we had earlier, I do not think there is any need for me to impress it on him.

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Chesham, I am sure will agree that we first had news of this particular Committee in January of this year. Can the noble Lord say when this Committee was in fact set up and when it commenced its inquiries? Can he also say whether it is going to be an active Committee, in the sense that it will prosecute its inquiries as quickly as possible, and can he give us any indication of when we may receive a report?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, taking the questions in the reverse order, I cannot give the House any idea of when it will complete its investigations, because, as I told the House before, this is an extremely complicated and difficult matter which is bound to take time. I should be misleading the House if I said otherwise. I cannot give the noble Lord offhand any precise dates of when the Committee was set up and when it actually began working. But what I can tell him is that the Committtee is well under way and is working very actively in order to produce as quickly as possible a conclusion to this very important matter, even though it may take some time.