§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many active servicemen successfully completed advanced driving safety courses in the last 12 months. [11450]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 30 October 2001]: The Ministry of Defence does not run specific courses teaching advanced driving safety, although service personnel do attend courses provided by organisations such as the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA). This training is arranged locally. The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
MOD does, however, provide training for all categories of driving licences. This includes basic training plus familiarisation training on the relevant type of vehicle, refresher training, and any specialist courses required. All these courses stress the importance of driving safely. More specifically, MOD has recently introduced a defensive driving training programme—some 4,000 personnel were given this training over the year April 2000 to March 2001.