asked the Secretary of State for Transport what progress is being made in the European Community towards a performance specification for car steering wheels to minimise the risk of facial injury, following published research and development work carried out at the transport and road research laboratory.

A draft standard based on TRRL research is under discussion in the expert group advising the European Commission. We hope that a final standard will be agreed by the end of this year and that the Commission will then propose an appropriate amending directive.