§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what consideration he has given to giving local authorities the responsibility for local administration of the invalid vehicle service.
§ Mr. AlisonI have no doubt this is a possible development which Lady Sharp will be considering in the course of her review.
§ Mr. Leadbitterasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many three-wheel Government issued invalid vehicles there are on the roads; how many of them have been reported in accidents during the last 12 months; and what are the relative figures during the previous three years.
§ Mr. AlisonThe Department has currently 18,835 invalid three-wheelers on issue. The comparable figures at 30th September 1970, 1971 and 1972 were 18,805, 18,936 and 18,437.
The information about accidents is not available as the Department's records do not differentiate between damage due to road accidents and minor damage due to incidents such as, for example, scraping a gatepost.
§ Mr. Leadbitterasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many applications there are at the latest available date for invalid vehicles.
§ Mr. AlisonThe total numbers of applications for help under the invalid road vehicle scheme received during 1972 and during the first five months of 1973 respectively were about 11,000 and about 6,000.