Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre (Hansard, 5 July 1978)

§ 13. Mr. MacKay
asked the Secretary of State for Transport by what indicators he judges any improvement in performance of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre at Swansea.

§ 14. Mr. William Shelton
asked the Secretary of State for Transport by what indicators he assesses any improvement in the performance of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre at Swansea.

§ 30. Mr. Budgen
asked the Secretary of State for Transport by what indicators he judges any improvement in performance of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre at Swansea.

§ Mr. Horam
The time taken to deal with transactions and the number of inquiries are important factors. Letters from hon. Members are also a helpful guide.

§ Mr. MacKay
I am glad that the Minister thinks that letters from hon. Members are a guide. Will he take it from me that many of my colleagues and I are receiving an increasing number of complaints from constituents? I appreciate that the centre is an acute embarrassment to the Minister, but does he think that it is time to hold a public inquiry into the running of the centre so that it can be made efficient and so that we do not have to scrap it, as some hon. Members wish?

§ Mr. Horam
The hon. Member has made four inquiries at a fairly steady pace—I would not say at an accelerated pace. I am pleased to be able to tell him that letters from hon. Members are no less than 40 per cent. down compared with the same period last year. I do not believe that that considerable improvement justifies an inquiry.

§ Mr. Shelton
Does the Under-Secretary of State recall that on 1st March his right hon. Friend, as reported in column 347 of Hansard, agreed that there were strong arguments for abolishing the road tax? Does he recall that at the same time the Secretary of State accepted that there might be some problems? Given the degree of dissatisfaction in the country and the House, is it not time that the Secretary of State looked at the problems to see how they might be overcome—as they have been in other countries—and at least produced a discussion document?

§ Mr. Horam
That is an interesting suggestion. When the hon. Member strays into the question of abolishing road tax it is interesting, but it is a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

§ Mr. Budgen
The Under-Secretary of State said that the number of complaints had declined by 40 per cent. Will he state the number of complaints that occurred in the two periods which he compared? How many complaints would he regard as being compatible with a properly run office at Swansea?

§ Mr. Horam
Between January and May 1977 the number of complaints from hon. Members was 494. In the equivalent period this year 297 complaints were received from hon. Members.

§ Mr. Anderson
Apart from the improvement in turn-round times, would not 445 a useful indicator be a reduction in the number of complaints from informed bodies, such as the Automobile Association, and an increase in the volume of complaints from ill-informed sources, such as Members of the Opposition? Will my hon. Friend seek to improve that lack of information by allowing those Opposition Members who wish to do so to visit the centre?

§ Mr. Horam
The Automobile Association, which is never slow to defend the interests of motorists, gave the Swansea centre a clean bill of health no less than a year ago. Since then a further improvement has taken place. I am only too anxious to draw that to the attention of the House. If hon. Members wish to visit the Swansea centre, I shall certainly afford them every facility.

§ Mr. Norman Fowler
How many letters ha.s the Department received about the repayment of vehicle excise duty and applications that came in after the Secretary of State's deadline? What replies have been sent to such representations?

§ Mr. Horam
There is a further Question on the Order Paper about that, and I refer the hon. Member to it.