§ Mr. ChallenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department will be taking to implement the EU voluntary agreement for improving average fuel efficiency for new cars. [145733]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Government strongly supports the Voluntary Agreements on new car fuel efficiency between the European Commission and the automotive industry, and has put in place a number of policies to incentivise the uptake of fuel-efficient vehicles in the UK. These are set out in detail in the Powering Future Vehicles strategy, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House and via the Department's website.
48Wprojects have examined the behaviour of High Risk Offenders and the effectiveness of Drink Drive Rehabilitation Courses. We are about to place a contract to investigate the usefulness, acceptability and impact on lifestyle of Alcohol Ignition Interlocks for drink driving offenders. We are also the main sponsor of the worlds largest conference on this subject—the 17th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety which meets in Glasgow in August 2004.
§ Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the issues on which views were invited in Combating Drink Driving: Next Steps, published in February 1998; and what action has been taken with regard to each of them. [144555]
§ Mr. JamiesonEach of the issues and the action taken are listed in the following table below.
The main measures include a number of fiscal incentives to encourage the purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles, such as the graduated Vehicle Excise Duty and company car tax regimes. We also provide Government grants to support the purchase of certain types of fuel-efficient vehicle, including petrol-electric `hybrid" vehicles. In recent months, we have been piloting colour-coded energy efficiency labels for new cars in some showrooms, as a way of getting clearer information on fuel efficiency to consumers, and we will be supporting the European Commission as it seeks to develop an EU-wide car energy efficiency labelling scheme. As a result of these and other measures, average new car fuel efficiency in the UK has improved by almost 10 per cent. since 1995.
49WThe Government's Energy White Paper, published in February 2003, confirmed the Government"s strong support for the Voluntary Agreements, and committed us to working with the European Commission in developing further Voluntary Agreements to continue the improvement in average new car fuel-efficiency. We have written to the European Commission setting out our view that new Agreements should be reached at an early date, establishing a new time horizon such as 2015. We have suggested that new targets should be based on authoritative evidence on available technology improvements, having regard to the full range of environmental, social and economic factors.
§ Mr. ChallenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what incentives his Department is giving to the use of road transport fuels which produce the least greenhouse gas emissions. [145745]
§ Mr. Jamieson"Powering Future Vehicles—The Government Strategy", published in July 2002, describes the action which the Government are taking to promote the shift to clean, low carbon fuels and vehicles, including low duty rates for liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas, hydrogen and biofuels, the introduction of CO2 -based graduated VED (Vehicle Excise Duty) and company car tax, and grants towards the purchase or conversion of cleaner fuelled vehicles, including electric and hybrid vehicles. Details of these purchase grants can be found at: www.transportenergy.org.uk The First Annual Report on implementation of the Strategy was published in October. Copies of both documents are available in the Libraries of the House.