HC Deb 23 January 2003 vol 398 c518W
Miss McIntosh

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the impact of the working time directive on services by(a) rail and (b) road. [91758]

Mr. Jamieson

My Department is consulting both sides of industry, on the likely impact of the adopted working time directive for mobile workers in the road transport sector (2002/15/EC). A regulatory impact assessment will be published later this year, alongside a consultation document on our proposals.

Rail and road workers will be subject to the original Working Time Directive (93/104/EC), as amended by 2000/34/EC, by August 2003. The Department of Trade and Industry published a draft impact assessment on 31 October 2002, which covers all the sectors excluded from the original directive, including rail workers and non-mobile workers in the road transport sector. The draft RIA may be revised following comments received at the close of the public consultation on 31 January.