§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at what (i) age and, (ii) mileage an ambulance is expected to have reached the end of its normal working life; how many and what percentage of636W ambulances are beyond that normal span (a) in Northern Ireland and (b) in each health and social services board area. [17357]
§ Mr. Worthington[holding answer 25 November 1997]: DHSS Guidelines for the replacement of accident and emergency ambulances stipulate that those vehicles should be replaced after they have reached seven years of age or whenever they have covered 140,000 miles, whichever is the sooner. For non-emergency ambulances this is five years or 70,000 miles.
In Northern Ireland, 22 representing 17 per cent. of Accident and Emergency Ambulances are beyond the normal span of age and mileage. Seventy-four non-emergency ambulances representing 88 per cent. are beyond the normal span of age and mileage.
The position in each Board area is given in the following table.
Accident and Emergency Ambulances Number in Board area North South East West Total Number in board area 37 30 39 27 133 Exceed on both 14 1 3 4 22 Age and mileage (per cent.) 38 3 8 15 17
Non-emergency Ambulances North South East West Total Number in board area 16 14 38 16 84 Exceed on both 16 13 30 15 74 Age and mileage (per cent.) 100 92 79 93 88