HL Deb 13 October 1975 vol 364 cc635-6

2.42 p.m.

Lord TREFGARNE

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majestys Government:

  1. (1) what is the average time taken by the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Centre in Swansea to process correctly filled out applications, and
  2. (2) what percentage of applications are for some reason delayed.

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, the Answer is for driving licences, five to six working days; for vehicle licences, one to two working days—though 95 per cent. of vehicle licences are issued locally over the counter away from Swansea—and for vehicle registration documents five to six working days. Some 2 per cent. of driver licensing cases and some 5 per cent. of vehicle registration cases take longer than 10 days to process.

Lord TREFGARNE

My Lords, I am greatly obliged to the noble Lord, but his Answer leaves me in some difficulty. Can he explain the volume of correspondence which I have had since I put down this Question, describing the most horrific stories of delay and procrastination by the DVLC, which may or may not be true? Can he also explain why my application, submitted last August, remains unattended to?

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, as regards the first part of the noble Lord's supplementary question, I cannot explain the correspondence without looking at it. If the noble Lord will give me specific cases I will look into them; and that applies to his own application.

Lord POPPLEWELL

My Lords, can the noble Lord tell us the saving from using this type of procedure? Does he not agree that many applicants for these licences feel very frustrated, now that applications have to go to Wales instead of being dealt with in local offices, as was done previously? Could the noble Lord give any indication as to what is the saving involved in this?

Lord MELCHETT

My Lords, my noble friend may know that the saving expected has not materialised, but the decision to centralize was taken some 10 years ago at a time when everybody involved—and I understand that extensive inquiries were made at the time—felf that the local system simply could not stand the increased strain.