§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list those measures undertaken by his Department to improve the targeting of vehicle and traffic enforcement. [1505]
§ Mr. BowisI have asked the chief executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate agency to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ron Oliver to Mrs. Gwyneth Dun woody, dated 4 November 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning measures undertaken by the Department to improve the targeting of vehicle and traffic enforcement.To improve our targeting capability, the Vehicle Inspectorate has done, or is doing, the following:
- (a) Since November 1991, we have recorded all checks on mechanical condition of vehicles on a computerised database to enable identification of Operators with a poor history or whose vehicles have not been seen.
- (b) We are currently linking annual test results to Operators, again to identify those with a poor history.
- (c) We have trialled weigh-in-motion sensors which may have a role to improve the selection of vehicles brought in for weighing and the times of the day that weight checks should be run. The results are currently being evaluated.
- (d) Over the next 12 months, we will be equipping all our Vehicle and Traffic Examiners with laptop computers so that they have access at the roadside to substantial parts of our operator and vehicle records. Through either mobile telephones or mobile data links, they will have access to all records.
- (e) This year we are setting up 6 regional intelligence units to improve the collection and analysis of information.
- (f) This year key targets for VI were agreed which give greater emphasis to the outcomes of our work, rather than the inputs, and which encourage Examiners to target their work. These targets will be developed further next year to encourage concentration on more serious cases.