§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Mr. Conway) of 11 February,Official Report, column 309, if he will indicate the EC legislation which currently prevents Her Majesty's Government from introducing national proposals on the wearing of seat belts on school buses; and if he will further indicate which part of which EC directorate he is pressing to enable such measures to be brought forward.
§ Mr. ChopeThe relevant EC directives are 76/155/EEC and 77/541/EEC together with their subsequent amendments, including most recently 90/629/EEC and 90/628/EEC. Any seat belts and anchorages that are fitted to new vehicles must conform to the standards laid down8W in these directives. In the case of coaches, no manufacturer can be obliged to fit seat belts or anchorages other than to front or exposed seats, and member states are not free to override this.
We have pressed directorate general III in the European Commission to bring forward proposals as soon as possible which would require seat belts to be fitted on all seats in coaches and minibuses. This concern has now been reflected in the recitals to directive 90/628/EEC, which state that everything should be done in order to prevent passenger ejection in accidents. We hope the Commission will respond to this by putting forward proposals within that time scale requiring the fitting of seat belts on each seat. In the meantime, we are considering what further steps can be taken to encourage the more widespread fitting of seat belts on passenger seats.