§ Mrs. Knightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he is taking to resolve the problems of supply of adapted Minis from British Leyland which at present are resulting in long delays in replacing damaged cars belonging to existing disabled users.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisMy officials are frequently in touch with those concerned at British Leyland to ensure that there is no avoidable delay in delivery of motor cars for disabled people in our scheme. The steps taken include liaison visits to the firm. I am advised that the agreed future production programme will enable the backlog of orders to be cleared fairly quickly and that thereafter delivery periods should be much improved. This depends crucially, however on continuity of output. Unfortunately, output has been interrupted on several occasions in recent months owing to component shortages and industrial disputes.