HC Deb 10 January 1977 vol 923 cc396-7W
Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will amend his past calculations of road vehicles in use, which form the basis of transport planning. to take account of errors of method in arriving at the figures.

Mr. William Rodgers

The costs involved in amending past estimates would not be justified, as the changes would be small relative to the total vehicle stock.

Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for Transport, in the light of the fact that the present method of calculating the annual vehicle census produces an over-estimate of the order of 400,000 vehicles, if he will now return to the system of counting all vehicles licensed on any one day as was done between 1939 and 1945.

Mr. William Rodgers

It is already planned to carry out a full census of vehicles currently licensed as at 31st December. This will be made possible when all vehicle registrations are held at the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Centre.

Mr. Onslow

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the cost, in each of the past five years, of the collection of road traffic statistics by his Department.

Mr. Horam

Following are the estimated figures for routine road traffic enumeration. All figures are at the prices prevailing at the time; at constant prices, the annual cost has risen only marginally over the period.

Financial years £ thousands
1971–72 249.4
1972–73 240.7
1973–74 338.7
1974–75 465.8
1975–76 536.7

Sundry traffic counts are also carried out by the Department in connection with specific road schemes, but the costs of these are not readily available.