§ Mr. Iain Millsasked the Secretary of State for Industry (1) if he is satisfied with his Department's support to truck and component manufacturers to encourage innovative undercarriage and suspension systems; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he is satisfied that his Department has given sufficient support to lorry component manufacturers in 143W order to ensure that new inventions can be exploited by United Kingdom manufacturers in order to reduce the impact on the environment of the lorry used on United Kingdom roads;
(3) if he will allocate funds towards the development of new truck undercarriage systems that will result in a more even distribution of axle loads.
§ Mr. WakehamAs might be expected, the majority of development work aimed at improving undercarriage and suspension systems is carried out by the manufacturers but funds are available on an industry-wide basis through the various departmental support schemes. Among the large number of individual cases considered by the Department over the past two years there have been a number relating to undercarriage and suspension systems and these have been considered relative to their merits and the available funds. My Department is aware of a number of ways in which improvement in these systems might contribute to reduction of road damage by lorries.