§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) whether the information derived from the experience of the statutory tests of motor vehicles of over three years of age is of value in achieving improvements in the design and manufacture of motor vehicles;
(2) if, with a view to promoting vehicle safety, he will publish a detailed analysis of the results of motor vehicle Ministry of Transport tests.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 20 January 1982 c. 154]: My Department analyses a sample of 2 per cent. of the 15 million tests carried out each year in the MOT scheme. Tables prepared on the basis of this sample are published regularly in "Transport Statistics Great Britain", showing pass and fail rates for the main groups of vehicles tested, together with the percentage of failures due to particular types of defect—brakes, lights and so on. Information about vehicles over three years old is of limited value in identifying weaknesses in design and manufacture because such weaknesses normally come to light in newer vehicles.