To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vehicles on the roads of Northern Ireland are estimated not to have road tax paid on them; and what assessment he has made of how this figure compares on a pro-rata basis with the other nations and regions of the United Kingdom. [124185]
A UK wide roadside survey on Vehicle Excise Duty evasion in 2002 estimated that there were 76,900 unlicensed vehicles in Northern Ireland, 74,700 in the Private and Light goods tax class (cars and small vans) and 2,200 in the Goods vehicles class. These represent evasion rates respectively of 7.3 per cent. and 8.2 per cent.The evasion rates for cars and small vans in traffic in other parts of the UK were:
| Percentage | |
| East of England | 3.1 |
| East Midlands | 2.2 |
| Greater London | 4.5 |
| North East | 2.4 |
| North West | 2.8 |
| Scotland | 1.6 |
| South East | 2.8 |
| South West | 2.6 |
| Wales | 2.8 |
| West Midlands | 2.3 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 2.4 |
| All Great Britain | 2.7 |
A regional breakdown of Great Britain evasion rates is not available for the Goods vehicle class. The overall figure for Great Britain in the 2002 survey was 2.1 per cent.