HC Deb 16 July 1987 vol 119 cc592-3W
Mr. David Shaw

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the achievements of his Department in helping small businesses over the last three years; and if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.

Mr. Channon

Achievements over the last three years are as follows:

For bus, minibus and taxi operators:

—the many more business opportunities provided in the Transport Act 1985 by the deregulation of local bus services.

For bus and lorry operators:

—an increased flexibility in drivers' hours arrangements allowed by changes successfully negotiated in EC regulations, and the removal of some controls imposed by the Transport Act 1968.

For international hauliers:

—the agreed removal of quantity restrictions on international road haulage within the EC.

For business men with roadside premises:

—a relaxation of my power to direct refusal of planning applications, and the proposed removal of local highway authorities' powers in England and Wales to block applications, for certain roadside developments.

For airline operators:

—new bilateral agreements with Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany and Luxembourg.

For helicopter operators:

—the scrapping by the Civil Aviation Authority of licensing requirements for services to oil rigs outside the United Kingdom.

For shipowners:

—simpler and less costly arrangements for bringing secondhand ships onto the United Kingdom register.

For shipowners in coastal trade:

—an agreement with the West German Government, allowing United Kingdom vessels access to German coastal trades on a reciprocal basis.

For MOT garages:

—provision to allow MOT testing stations to use fewer forms.

For the supply industry:

—the British Railways Board were asked to obtain more supply and support services, including rail and station catering, from the private sector.

—the procurement organisation recently set up to direct all the Department's purchasing, will take steps to encourage the use of small firms where appropriate.

The procurement organisation is in the process of establishing suitable performance indicators to monitor the use of small firms, and the Transport and Road Research Laboratory is monitoring the effects of bus deregulation under the Transport Act 1985. The other measures do not lend themselves in the same way to the use of statistical performance indicators.