§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list in the Official Report the accident statistics for invalid tricycles with manual gearbox, automatic transmission and adapted four-wheeled cars, respectively, in England, for the years ended 30th September 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively;
(2) if he will list in the Official Report the numbers of drivers injured in accidents involving invalid tricycles with manual gearbox and automatic transmission, respectively, in England for the years ended 30th September 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively;
(3) if he will list in the Official Report the injury accident rate per million miles for invalid tricycles with manual gearbox, automatic transmission and adapted four-
136Wfamily allowances in each member State Family Allowances of the EEC expressed in £ sterling in October 1977.
§ Mr. OrmeFollowing is the information:
wheeled cars respectively, in England, for the years ended 30th September 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively;
(4) if he will list in the Official Report the injury accident rate per 1,000 drivers and per 100 million miles for invalid tricycles with manual gearbox, automatic transmission and adapted four-wheeled cars, respectively, in England, for the years ended 30th September 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisFor the information requested for the years ended 30th September 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 28th March 1977. —[Vol. 929, c.46–50.]
Information relating to injury accidents involving invalid three-wheelers is now separately identified in the digest of statistics "Road accidents Great Britain" published annually by my right 137W hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport. The separate extraction of information from my Department's accident reports which would involve considerable work, has been discontinued. Individual accident reports continue to be carefully scrutinised, and my Department's arrangements for pursuing any evidence of recurring mechanical faults or defects remain unchanged.
§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what was the total expenditure allocated to the capital cost, adaptation, insurance, servicing, attendance at breakdowns, repairs, reconditioning, garaging, making good accident damage, petrol allowance, maintenance allowance, carriage, driving tuition and maintenance of reserve vehicles, respectively, in relation to the supply by his Department of invalid tricycles and four-wheeled vehicles, respectively, as at 31st March 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977 respectively;
(2) what were the total amounts less capital cost, spent on invalid tricycle repairs, maintenance, garaging, tax, insurance, driving tuition, maintaining reserve vehicles and petrol allowances, under each respective heading as recorded by his Department as at 31st March 1970, 1971, 1972. 1973, 1974. 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively;
(3) what were the total amounts, less capital cost, spent on the adaptation of four-wheeled vehicles, insurance, tax, driving tuition and maintenance allowances, under each respective heading as recorded by his Department as at 31st March 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisFor the available information for the years ended 31st March 1970–1976, I would refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Exeter (Mr. Hannam) on 30th June 1976.—[Vol. 914, c.216–18.] The figures for the year ended 31st March 1977 were as follows:
138W
Three-Wheelers £ Purchase of new vehicles. 3,804,708 Repairs, adaptations and maintenance 3,263,733 Garaging 22,858 Insurance see below* Driving Tuition 76,469 Petrol Tax Allowance 171,303 Vehicle Excise Duty NIL Carriage (Estimated) 538,288
Cars Purchase of new vehicles and misellaneous associated expenditure 1,390,137 Insurance see below* Driving Tuition 67,975 Vehicle Excise Duty NIL Repairs for re-issue, etc. 80,946 Maintenance allowance including Petrol Tax Allowance 761,789 Miscellaneous 75,737 Three-Wheelers and Cars Insurance 469,942* The invalid vehicle service for NHS applicants was replaced on 1st January 1976 by the mobility allowance scheme, expenditure upon which was approximately £200,000 in the period 1st January 1976 to 31st March 1976 and a little over £8 million in the period 1st April 1976 to 31st March 1977.
§ Mr. John Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what were the total numbers of invalid tricycles and four-wheeled vehicles, respectively, which were purchased by his Department in the years ended 31st March 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisApproximate numbers of new vehicles delivered, whether to new beneficiaries or as replacement vehicles to existing beneficiaries, in England, where as follows:
The decline in numbers in the year ended 31st March 1977 largely reflects the replacement of the former invalid vehicle service by mobility allowance.
Year ended 31st March Cars Three-Wheelers 1970 … 1,000 2,943 1971 … 990 3,170 1972 … 950 2,128 1973 … 1,147 3,107 1974 … 1,479 2,434 1975 … 1,295 2,369 1976 … 1,589 2,803 1977 … 1,181 1,920
§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list what future contracts have been placed, either by his Department or by AC Cars, respectively, for the purchase of engines from Steyr-Daimler-Puch Limited in Austria, rear suspension assembly parts from Applicazioni Industriali Fiat Om of Italy and automatic transmission parts from 139W Salisbury Industries of the United States of America, respectively.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisIt is not the normal practice to publish details of the Department's contractual arrangements. I take this opportunity to renew the absolute assurance that it is the intention that the necessary supplies of replacement parts will continue to be secured to maintain the existing three-wheeler fleet into the early 1980s. So far, no insuperable problems have been encountered.