HC Deb 22 June 1998 vol 314 cc426-7W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Quinn) on 16 June 1998,Official Report, column 152, what percentage of (a) all vehicles currently held and (b) vehicles used by Ministers have on average fuel consumption of less than 26 miles per gallon; what steps he is taking to replace them; and if he will make a statement. [46970]

Mr. Kilfoyle

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated under the terms of its Framework Document to the Government Car and Despatch Agency. I have asked its Chief Executive, Mr. Nick Matheson, to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Nick Matheson to Mr. Norman Baker, dated 22 June 1998: The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of Public Service, has asked me in my capacity as Chief Executive of the Government Car and Despatch Agency to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the fuel consumption of vehicles used by the Agency. We are not in a position to extract fuel consumption figures for individual vehicles within the GCDA fleet at the present time. However, based on official published combined urban cycle fuel consumption figures for the cars involved:-

  1. a) 14.1% of the total GCDA fleet has an estimated fuel consumption below 26.0 mpg.
  2. b) 11.5% of cars allocated to Ministers have a fuel consumption below 26.0 mpg. All of these are scheduled for replacement or conversion to use alternative gas fuels within the next 18 months.

I am not satisfied with the current method of measuring fuel consumption and as part of my management reforms for the Agency I have recently changed the method of recording fuel consumption so that I can begin to make performance comparisons between individual vehicles under normal operating conditions. This work will be completed in the next week or so and if the results indicate a material change in the figures I have given above, I will write again to provide that information.