§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will list the information he received concerning the effect on the environment of road haulage movements which gave rise to the increase in vehicle excise duty for 40-tonne trucks in the 1999 Budget; [116865]
(2) what assessment he has made of the impact on (a) the environment and (b) the number of road haulage movements of the decrease in vehicle excise duty rates announced in the Budget; [116837]
(3) if he will list the information he received between March 1999 and March 2000 concerning the effect on the environment of road haulage movements which gave rise to the decrease in vehicle excise duty by £1,800 for 40-tonne trucks in the Budget. [1168661]
§ Mr. Hill[holding answer 30 March 2000]: Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In his 1999 Budget, the Chancellor made clear that a high VED rate had been set for the new 40-tonne, 5-axle vehicle first allowed in the UK from 1 January 1999 in order to discourage its use on UK roads. This was in view of the significant extra road damage caused by lorries running these new 11.5 tonne axle weights.
The Changes the Chancellor made to VED rates for goods vehicles in his recent Budget and the reasons for them are explained in paragraphs 6.69 to 6.72 of the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, published on 21 March 2000. The VED rate of £5,750 set for the new, road-damaging 40-tonne lorry on 5-axles in Budget 99 has successfully discouraged its use by domestic hauliers. However, now that domestic hauliers who need the highest weight limits have the option to use the less damaging 6-axle 44-tonne lorry within the UK, the only UK hauliers who still need to use the 40-tonne lorry are international operators using continental roads with 40-tonne lorry weight limits.
To boost the competitiveness of these international hauliers, the Government are cutting the VED rate for the 40-tonne lorry on 5-axles from £5,750 to £3,950. The rate for the less road-damaging 38-tonne lorry on 5-axles will be reduced by £500 to encourage its continued use, and there will also be a reduction of £500 for the lorry typically used to collect freight from UK ports to boost the competitiveness of hauliers in this sector.
The Government will continue to monitor trends in vehicle purchasing and plating decisions and in volumes of road haulage movements, while a sub-group of the Road Haulage Forum will continue to review the costs which different lorry types impose on the environment and the roads. This work will inform the Chancellor's future decisions on VED rates for goods vehicles.