§ Mr. Mageeasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress being made towards the implementation of the revised MoT test facility tests.
§ Dr. GilbertAuthorised examiners who are to remain in the scheme after 31st May 1979, must make an application for approval of the way in which they propose to meet the new requirements. The task of giving approval to some 18,000 examiners will be an onerous one and it is therefore essential that applications are received as soon as possible if the work is to be completed on time. For this reason, I have decided that all applications received before 1st January 1977 will be considered first and that any received on or after that date will not be considered until decisions have been made on the others. This means that any examiners whose proposals are received after 1st January 1977 will run the risk of their not being approved in time to continue testing after May 1979.
I have also reviewed the deadline of 31st May 1979 for requiring the installation of optical headlamp beam-setting equipment and I have advanced it to 30th June 1977. If, after that later date, an authorised examiner is found to be testing without an optical beam-setter, and I am satisfied that adequate alternative testing facilities are available in the area, that examiner's authorisation will be withdrawn.