Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating new cars and buses to have engines which automatically switch off when in traffic.

Vehicle manufacturers are under legislative and market pressure to deliver fuel-efficient vehicles that produce less carbon dioxide. This encourages the fitment of technologies such as automatic engine start-stop systems. Government sees its role as the setting of standards, and that of industry as the development of appropriate technologies to meet those standards.