§ Mr. BurtTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many British organisations are involved in the European Community DRIVE project.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyBritish organisations are playing a major part in the DRIVE initiative and are involved in more than two thirds of the contracts let so far.
Up to now, some 60 DRIVE contracts have been awarded: 27 British organisations are involved in 42 of them and are taking the lead in 19. Bearing in mind the EC has had 189 DRIVE proposals, this is an impressive hit rate and illustrates the depth of technology available in Britain.
The Government's transport and road research laboratory has been awarded 12 contracts and is lead contractor in one. The local value of these contracts is £12.7 million, of which the TRRL share is £870,000. Work on most of these projects has started and will take two or three years.
With a budget of 50 million ecu (£32 million), DRIVE aims to create an integrated pan-European road transport environment, mainly using electronic systems to convey information to drivers and for controlling traffic.