§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the extent of air pollution caused by 37W emissions from buses; and what plans he has to restrict such emissions. [10877]
(1995 figures) Volatile organic compounds Oxides of nitrogen Carbon monoxide Sulphur dioxide Black smoke Emissions in kilotonnes 15 68 66 4 19.7 Percentage of UK total 0.6 3.0 1.2 0.2 5.5 Percentage of road transport 3 6 2 8 11.1 Percentage of diesel emissions 21 16 34 12 12.1 More stringent emission standards for new and existing buses together with improvements in fuel quality should bring significant improvements in bus emissions. Further improvements in the quality of diesel fuel from 2000 were recently agreed by the Government with their European partners with yet further improvements anticipated from 2005. These measures will further reduce exhaust emissions from all buses. In addition, even tighter emission standards for new buses to apply from 2000 will be prescribed under EU proposals which are expected to be published shortly. Meanwhile, the Chancellor has announced his intention of extending to buses the vehicle excise duty incentive scheme for vehicles that meet more stringent emission requirements.
§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the Government plan to publish type approval data showing the levels of toxic emissions for new cars sold in the United Kingdom. [10302]
Ms JacksonData on emissions from different models of passenger cars in connection with MOT test standards are already publicly available. There are some practical problems about making type approval data available in a useful form, not least because many type approvals are done in other EU countries, and the information is therefore complicated and expensive to collate. But we accept the principle of publishing this data and have asked officials to see how this can be achieved.