HC Deb 17 December 1980 vol 996 cc228-9W
Dr. Glyn

asked the Minister of 'Transport if, in view of the Government's policy of reducing the costs of small firms, he will seek to reduce the length of time taken by the Vehicle Type Approval Department to deal with developments proposed by small firms making specialist vehicles in comparatively small numbers.

Mr. Fowler

Various steps are already taken to help specialist vehicle manufacturers obtain type approval for their products. I am always prepared to consider new ideas as long as these meet the essential purposes of the system.

Dr. Glyn

asked the Minister of Transport how many people are currently employed in the Vehicle Type Approval Department; what has been the increase in staff each year since its inception; and what is the forecast of staff to be employed between 1981 and 1983.

Mr. Fowler

The number of staff employed in my Vehicle and Component Approval Division on 1 December 1980 was 81. This figure includes three staff employed on fuel consumption testing and its associated administrative work taken over from the Department of Energy in July 1980.

The division was created in 1977 and the numbers of staff employed by the division on 1 April that year and succeeding years is given below:

No. in post
April 1977 75
April 1978 74
April 1979 85
April 1980 78

The number of staff forecast to be employed between 1981–1983 depends upon any future development of type approval work. Extension of national type approval to goods vehicles, which is currently under consideration in response to requests from the industry, would entail an addition of 10 to 20 staff.

Dr. Glyn

asked the Minister of Transport what are the purposes of the Vehicle Type Approval Department, and if he will consider extending the existing system of Ministry of Transport vehicle tests to cover new vehicles and consequentially the winding-up of the Vehicle Type Approval Department.

Mr. Fowler

The purposes are to ensure as far as practicable that cars and their components made or imported into the United Kingdom are designed and manufactured to proper safety and environmental standards and, by providing internationally recognised certificates, to facilitate exports of British vehicles and components.

The annual MOT test is designed to check whether individual vehicles are being adequately maintained in service. To use the 15,000 garages involved for type approval work would be neither practical nor economic.