§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the total development costs, whether met jointly or separately by his Department and A.C. Cars, respectively, the estimated capital and distribution costs and estimated maintenance costs of the four-wheeled specialised single-seater invalid vehicle, listing what future contracts have been placed with A.C. Cars for the production of the vehicle from April 1978 onwards.
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§ Mr. Alfred MorrisThe Department has not commissioned, nor contributed towards the cost of, any research connected with the production of such a vehicle; nor are there plans to do so in the future. I am not aware that A.C. Cars are currently active in this field. I am, of course, in touch with several interesting developments of vehicles for the disabled by other enterprises.
§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the average annual cost per head involved in the issue to the disabled of invalid tricycles and four-wheeled vehicles, respectively, for the years ended 30th September 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, respectively.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisExpenditure on three-wheelers and cars in England in the financial years 1969–70 to 1976–77, expressed as a unit cost per vehicle driver at the midpoint in each financial year (30th September) was as follows:
Cars Three-Wheelers £ £ 1969–70 … 188 171 1970–71 … 178 184 1971–72 … 181 235 1972–73 … 227 243 1973–74 … 275 267 1974–75 … 268 302 1975–76 … 345 365 1976–77 … 270 425 Since 1st January 1976 cars have not been supplied to new National Health Service applicants, which largely explains the marked reduction in the unit cost of cars for 1976–77.