Goods Vehicle Operator Licensing (Hansard, 21 June 1994)

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 22 March,Official Report, column 145, about the right of local residents to object to the granting of an operator's licence following deregulation, at what point in that process the right will be exercisable.

§ Mr. Key
The Deregulation and Contracting Out Bill contains no provisions for changing the timing of local residents' exercise of their right to object to the grant of an operator's licence.

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) of 28 February,Official Report, column 563, about goods vehicle operators, how he plans to ensure that members of the public know (a) the location and (b) the function of their local traffic office.

§ Mr. Key
The address and telephone number of the local traffic area office is given in British Telecom telephone directories under "Department of Transport". The address is also given in the statutory advertisements made by applicants for goods vehicle operator licences.
127W
The function of the traffic area offices is set out in the "Traffic Area Network Annual Report" available from the Traffic Area Co-ordination Division, Department of Transport, Room P2/028, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3EB. A summary is also published in a "Code of Practice for the Traffic Area Offices", available from each traffic area office.

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals he has to market-test the processing of applications for goods and public service vehicle operator licensing; and how he intends to ensure that no unfair advantage is given to certain operators and that the rights of local residents are maintained.

§ Mr. Key
As part of the Government's "Competing for Quality" programme, we will be considering the feasibility of market-testing or contracting-out the routine processing of applications for operator licences. Contracting out would not affect the requirement for impartiality or the rights of local residents.