HC Deb 29 January 2001 vol 362 c15W
Mr. Chope

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many(a) telephone calls and (b) letters have been received by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency from keepers of vehicles inquiring about the implementation of the new excise duty rates for vehicles of 1500 cc and less announced in the pre-Budget report; and what the estimated cost to public funds is of responding to them. [147822]

Mr. Hill

In the period 9 November 2000–19 January 2001, DVLA staff handled(a) some 9,100 telephone and (b) some 600 written (including E-mail) inquiries concerning the 1500 cc proposal. In addition some 32,000 inquiries covering both the 1200 cc and 1500 cc schemes, were handled by the agency's automated VOICE system.

These volumes represent a small proportion of the inquiry work handled by the agency, and no additional resources were needed to deal with them.