§ Baroness Goudieasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the legislation on the use of car seats for the transport of infants and children in cars also applies to emergency and passenger transport service ambulances; how many journeys infants and children took in ambulances without being carried in appropriate car seats in each of the last five years for which figures are available; what methods are used to secure infants and children; and whether the safety of these methods matches that of car seats. [HL2157]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty)Legislation on the fitting of adult seat belts, which are used to secure child restraints, applies to most vehicles. The design and testing approvals of such seat belts and child restraints, and their fixings, are to approved standards. Therefore the methods to secure infants and children in ambulances match those used in cars. The legislation on the wearing of seat belts and child restraints applies where seat belts are fitted.
Seat belts are required to be fitted in the front seats of ambulances, but not in the rear. If an ambulance has 9 to 16 passenger seats, however, it is classed as a minibus. In that case, when three or more children aged between 3 and 15 years inclusive are travelling on an organised trip, a forward facing seat with a seat belt must be provided for each child. Consultation is currently under way on proposals to require the fitment of seat belts in all rear seats (whether forward of rearward facing) of new minibuses that do not carry standing passengers.
In minibuses, if the unladen weight is 2,540 kgs or less, seat belts in the rear must be worn. If an appropriate child restraint is available, it must be used where relevant. However, the law does not require seat belts or child restraints to be worn in minibuses over 2,540 kgs, but we strongly recommend that where they are fitted they should be used.
Figures for those journeys in amublances where appropriate child restraints were not used are not collected centrally.