Dan Neville
Question:305 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the changes planned in procedure for the NCT in a number of areas (details supplied). [30855/01]
Written Answers. - National Car Test.
The national car test is operated under a public private partnership arrangement. The related project agreement between the National Car Testing Service Limited and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government specifies among other matters, the service to be provided, the performance standards against which the delivery of the service is assessed and the procedure for dealing with an application for a fee increase from the company. The performance standards include procedural matters such as test arrangements and integrity, customer service standards and quality assurance.
The company's performance is evaluated against the specified performance standards, by a supervisor appointed by my Department for that purpose. The supervisor consists of a consortium drawn from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Automobile Association. It reports on a monthly basis to the Department and is also required to provide an annual report covering all aspects of the company's operations. The report for the first year of testing – 2000 – is available in the Oireachtas Library.
In the event that potential for improvement in any area of the testing service is identified, the Department will endeavour to implement that change in consultation with the company.