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"Highway Code": Advice on Roller Skates, etc.
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they plan to include advice to users of roller skates, skate boards and roller blades in the Highway Code.
Baroness Hayman: The Highway Code is being revised this year and all suggestions will be considered during the revision process. It might be more appropriate to include advice on roller skates, skate boards and roller blades in the Highway Code for Young Road Users.
Driving Assessments and Information to Insurers
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether, as many companies now require their drivers to undergo driving assessments, there are any legal obligations on a driver who receives an unfavourable assessment result to declare this to his insurer.
Baroness Hayman: No. The information to be declared on an insurance proposal is a matter of contract between an insurer and his policyholder.
Uninsured Drivers
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have to reduce the incidence of uninsured driving.
Baroness Hayman: Driving without insurance is a most serious matter. We will be considering the way forward on combating evasion, taking account of the views of representatives of the insurance industry, the police and others concerned. Measures already being taken to combat Vehicle Excise Duty evasion are also effective against insurance offenders, as drivers must produce a valid insurance in order to buy a tax disc.
Drinking and Driving: Legal Limit
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they plan to reduce the legal limit for drinking and driving.
Baroness Hayman: We are looking at a number of options for improving road safety. The legal limit for drinking and driving is one of the many issues we shall be considering.
Secure Car Parks: Planning Guidance
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will now include "secured" car parks in planning guidance for town centres (PPG6).
Baroness Hayman: The revised PPG6: Town Centres and Retail Developments, published in June 1996, refers to the need for secure car parks.
DVLA: Accuracy of Vehicle Record
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they intend to take any action to improve the integrity of the information held by the DVLA, and whether they consider that inaccuracy of the data held is preventing the prosecution of speeding and other motoring offences.
Baroness Hayman: The vehicle record maintained by DVLA is a vital ingredient in the effective enforcement of traffic offences and its current state is not considered to date by the law enforcement agencies to be a significant handicap in tracking down offenders. However, DVLA, in conjunction with the police and other interests, is constantly looking at ways of improving the accuracy of its vehicle record so as to further assist the detection and prosecution of motoring offences and vehicle crime. On 24 March this year new registration procedures were introduced. These will ensure that the DVLA vehicle record contains more accurate details of vehicles and their registered keeper.
ISOFIX Child Restraint System
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether, as the ISOFIX proposals for child restraint fitment to vehicles may offer improvements in safety over the current systems in use, they will press for the introduction of this sort of scheme on a world-wide basis.
Baroness Hayman: The department has actively supported the development of the ISOFIX child restraint attachment system. We will continue to promote the ISOFIX system and have offered to draft an amendment to ECE Regulation 44, the European standard for child restraints, so that it can incorporate the key features of the system.
Speed Limit Repeater Signs
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they have any plans to allow more widespread use of 30 mph repeater signs.
Baroness Hayman: No. The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 1994 specifically prohibit the erection of speed limit repeater signs on lit 30 mph roads. The erection of repeaters on some 30 mph roads but not on others could create enforcement difficulties in that a driver might claim he was unaware of the limit because on that particular road there were no repeaters. Evidence, particularly from greater compliance when the limit is enforced by the presence of speed cameras, suggests that drivers know what the limit is but many choose to ignore it.
Lord Brougham and Vaux asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether, as part of the campaign to reduce excessive and inappropriate speed, and to change public attitudes to speeding, they have any plans to improve the standard of speed limit signing, and particularly to increase the number of repeater signs on roads where these signs are necessary.
Baroness Hayman: No. Requirements for the placing of speed limit terminal and repeater sings are laid down in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 1994. The placing and design of the signs is generally clear to drivers as evidenced by greater compliance with speed limits where signs indicating the presence of speed enforcement cameras are also present.
Health Spending: G7 Countries
Lord Monkswell asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will list for each member of the G7 nations the percentage of GDP spent on health care costs.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Baroness Jay of Paddington): The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) collects and publishes figures for health spending. The table shows the figures requested for 1995, the latest year for which figures are available.
| Country | Public expenditure on health care as a percentage of GDP | Total expenditure on health care as a percentage of GDP |
| Canada | 6.9 per cent. | 9.7 per cent. |
| France | 8.0 per cent. | 9.9 per cent. |
| Germany | 8.2 per cent. | 10.4 per cent. |
| Italy | 5.4 per cent. | 7.7 per cent. |
| Japan | 5.7 per cent. | 7.2 per cent. |
| UK | 5.9 per cent. | 6.9 per cent. |
| USA | 6.6 per cent. | 14.2 per cent. |
Source:
OECD 1997.
These figures are not fully comparable because of differences in definitions between countries. In addition, comparisons between expenditure figures alone ignore the efficiency and effectiveness with which resources are used.
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