Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2017 to Question 117278 on buses: tyres, which organisations have been approached by his Department to commission the research referred to in that answer.

The Government is committed to using robust evidence to guide policy decisions. To that end the Department for Transport approached Atkins/CH2M, the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), WSP (and their partner Frazer Nash), Arup and Pell Frischmann through the Highways England Procurement Framework to commission scientific research into the effects of chronological age on the integrity of tyres.

The first tender exercise in June 2016 received no bids. Following further discussions in September 2016 with potential suppliers to improve their understanding of our requirements, a second tender exercise was undertaken. However, this received only one response in December 2016 which did not address the research questions raised.

The Department subsequently engaged direct with TRL who were invited to submit a formal bid in December 2017. After careful consideration, TRL was awarded a 12-month contract to the value of £250,000 in January 2018. This was announced to the House on 1 March 2018. The findings will be published.