§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the cost per heavy goods vehicle of the fitting of an exhaust system incorporating a particulates trap in order to attract the reduction in vehicle excise duty announced in his Budget statement. [83824]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe Government's assessment of the current cost of retrofitting a particulate trap to a heavy goods vehicle is between £3,000 and £4,500, compared with the maximum Vehicle Excise Duty reduction of £1,000 when vehicles meet the emissions standards required to receive a Reduced Pollution Certificate. The cost for smaller vehicles is at the lower end of this scale, increasing to the upper figure for the largest and most powerful lorries. It is expected that the cost of emissions reduction technologies will fall as the market for them grows, leading to competition between manufacturers and economies of scale in the production of devices.