§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will now instruct examiners from his Department to exercise powers given to his Department by Section 61 of the Road Traffic Act; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Dr. GilbertThese powers have not hitherto been invoked, but vehicle inspectors do carry out examinations at vendors' premises at the request of the police or trading standards officers. I will bear my hon. and learned Friend's suggestion in mind, but the resources at present available are fully employed on tasks with a higher priority for road safety.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether examiners are required to follow his advice concerning the manner of ascertaining the presence or incidence of rust by the use of fingers or without the use of tools.
§ Dr. GilbertI refer my hon. and learned Friend to the answer which I gave him on 18th March 1976. [Vol. 907, c. 591–2.]
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what summaries are made of the contents of the forms completed and returned to the Department by authorised examiners; and whether such summaries include details of the number of occasions on which a vehicle fails its MOT test.
§ Dr. GilbertThese forms are summarised to give quarterly and yearly data on the number of tests, number of failures and the reasons for failure. This information does not include details of the number of times any one vehicle fails its MOT test.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether 418W the forms completed and returned to his Department by all authorised examiners summarising the results of every MOT test show the percentage of passes and of failures by such authorised examiners; and, if not, whether he will prepare such information.
§ Dr. GilbertThe forms returned by the authorised examiners are sampled and analysed to produce periodic returns summarising the results of the MOT test. The figures for 1975 are as follows:—
SUMMARY OF MOT TEST RESULTS 1975 Number Per cent Motor Cycles Total Tests … 483,750 100.0 Failures … 158,500 32.8 Brakes … 89,450 18.5 Steering … 63,800 13.2 Lights … 46,650 9.6 Tyres … 30,700 6.3 Motor Cars Total Tests … 12,606,900 100.0 Failures … 4,435,450 35.2 Brakes … 2,655,350 21.1 Steering … 2,313,400 18.4 Lights … 951,500 7.5 Tyres … 782,800 6.2 Seat Belts … 40,900 0.3 Light Goods Vehicles Total Tests … 593,100 100.0 Failures … 234,650 39.6 Brakes … 137,000 23.1 Steering … 120,150 20.3 Lights … 68,200 11.5 Tyres … 30,700 5.2 Seat Belts … 2,200 0.4