Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has plans to review seatbelt requirements for buses operating on rural routes where the speed limit exceeds 30mph; and what assessment she has made of the potential cost and viability implications for operators of extending such requirements beyond coaches and minibuses used for excursions.

The Department has no current plans to review seatbelt requirements for buses operating on rural routes where the speed limit exceeds 30 mph, and has not made a specific assessment of the cost or viability implications for operators of extending the requirements to buses designed to carry standing passengers.

Since 1 October 2001, seatbelts have been required to be fitted to each forward-facing and rearward-facing seat in all new buses and coaches, except vehicles designed and authorised to carry standing passengers. Vehicle construction requirements apply nationally and do not vary according to whether a service operates on a rural route.

Bus travel remains one of the safest forms of road transport in Great Britain. Bus and coach occupant casualties account for only a small proportion of all reported road casualties, despite the high number of passenger journeys made by bus each year.