§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many(a) coaches and (b) heavy goods vehicles have been found to be unsafe in each of the last five years; and how many prosecutions have resulted; [23302]
(2) if he will list by police force area, the number of wide prohibition notices issued for each year since 1992. [23301]
§ Mr. NorrisI have asked the chief executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ron Oliver to Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody, dated 28 March 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions on the number of coaches and heavy goods vehicles found to be unsafe in each of the last 5 years, and the number of "wide" prohibitions notices by police force area.The number of prohibitions issued in each of the last 5 years to vehicles inspected for their roadworthiness is shown in the attached table. There is no information for the past 5 years on any resulting prosecutions as we have not kept a separate register of roadworthiness prosecutions until this financial year.I would be grateful if you could clarify your second question; I am not sure what is meant by "wide" prohibitions. I should also explain that we do not record data by police force area.
National roadworthiness prohibition figures 1990–91 to 1994–95 HGV PSV 1990–91 19,998 2,991 1991–92 21,284 3,445 1992–93 22,067 3,026 1993–94 22,260 3,295 1994–95 23,304 3,921 HGV figures include prohibitions for both motor vehicles and trailers.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he or his fellow Ministers at the Department of Transport have had meetings with 705W representatives of the motor manufacturing industry to discuss research being undertaken into the relative safety of different types of vehicle involved in side impact collisions; [23377]
(2)what research has been commissioned by his Department from the Transport Research Laboratory on the relative safety of different types of vehicle in side impact collisions; which agency stipulated the terms of the research; and how much this research has cost his Department; [23375]
(3)if he will make it his policy to release immediately public research undertaken by the Transport Research Laboratory into the relative safety of different types of vehicles involved in side impact collisions; [23376]
(4)for what reasons his Department has not released information relating to the relative safety of different makes of vehicle in side impact collisions; and what discussions officials of his Department have had with representatives of vehicle manufacturers relating to this research. [23378]
§ Mr. NorrisResearch on the feasibility of a new car assessment programme, in which the safety of new models would be evaluated, is being done at TRL and was commissioned by the vehicle standards and engineering division of the Department. It includes side protection and is to see if the results give a reliable indicator of relative performance.
It is not possible readily to separate the costs of individual tests but the overall cost of the programme is £1.58 million over three years—1995 to 1998.
Neither I nor my colleagues have had meetings with representatives of the motor industry specifically to discuss this research. There have been discussions with vehicle manufacturers at official level, in particular a meeting in July 1995 at TRL to discuss the test procedure with major car manufacturers. Motor manufacturers have also been invited to witness tests on their own model.
Whether the published report on the research will include the test results of named car models will depend on the assessment emerging from the research of the reliability of the information as an indicator of performance. It could be misleading to publish information judged to be unreliable.