§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Employment, in view of the fact that the introduction of the compulsory use of tachographs will involve a capital outlay of £100 million to the road haulage industry and £40 million for maintenance, the latter being an additional annual operating cost of 16 per 113W Cent. to the industry, to what extent he estimates road transport costs and charges will have to rise if all of these costs are passed on and eventually paid for by the end user of the goods transported; and what will be the rise in the cost of living to the general public.
§ Mr. William RodgersI have been asked to reply.
As I said to my hon. Friend in my written reply on 13 March 1979—[Vol. 964, c. 138]—the introduction of the compulsory use of tachographs will incur an addition of only about 0.6 per cent., not 16 per cent., to present operating costs. Furthermore, this very small increase takes no account of any off-setting productivity savings. Any effect on the cost of living is likely to be insignificant.