HC Deb 15 December 1993 vol 234 cc706-8W
Ms. Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list by vehicle registration office, the number, grades and salary costs of staff employed on vehicle excise duty enforcement and the total amount of revenue collected by those staff in 1992–93.

Mr. Key

The information requested is as follows:

Staff In Posts and Salaries 1992–93
(£000s)
VRO by Region Executive staff Clerical staff Salary costs
Scottish
Aberdeen 4 40
Carlisle 1 4 53
Dundee 4 33
VRO by Region Executive staff Clerical staff Salary costs
Edinburgh 1 11 140
Glasgow 2 25 262
Inverness 3 23
Middlesborough 2 12 104
Newcastle 3 18 197
Total 852
North England and North Wales
Bangor 2 7 86
Chester 1 8 91
Huddersfield 1 7 93
Hull 2 7 95
Leeds 4 20 234
Liverpool 3 21 252
Manchester 4 21 278
Preston 2 14 135
Sheffield 2 14 155
Total 1,419
Midlands
Birmingham 5 24 326
Coventry 1 12 120
Dudley 1 9 99
Leicester 1 13 114
Lincoln 2 10 130
Northampton 1 11 148
Nottingham 1 15 152
Peterborough 1 9 106
Shrewsbury 5 37
Stoke 1 8 85
Total 1,317
Southwest England and South Wales
Bristol 4 23 270
Cardiff 4 20 205
Exeter 4 17 179
Gloucester 2 10 130
Haverfordwest 1 3 17
Swansea 2 9 75
Taunton 2 7 91
Truro 2 5 100
Worcester 2 8 110
Total 1,177
London and Eastern
Chelmsford 5 24 310
Ipswich 2 9 115
Luton 6 30 397
Norwich 2 10 101
Total 923
Southern
Bournemouth 3 12 163
Brighton 4 24 274
Guildford 3 14 179
Maidstone 4 20 288
Oxford 1 11 105
Portsmouth 3 15 177
Reading 2 16 201
Swindon 1 7 76
Total 1,463
London Enforcement Office 37 207 3,391

The total salary costs for 1992–93 was £10.5 million.

The revenue recovered for 1992–93 was as follows:

£ million
Out of court settlements paid 10.5
Prosecution 27
Total 37.5

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each no further steps code the number of vehicle excise duty offence reports written off for the financial year 1992–93.

Mr. Key

VED offence reports are written off as "no further steps" when enforcement action has had to be discontinued for a specified reason. The figures for 1992–93 were:

Number
NFS 1 (unable to trace the offender or prove liability for the offence) 408,000
NFS 2 (time expired for court action) 1,200
NFS 3 (insufficient staff resource) 1,200

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicle excise duty offence reports(a) were settled out of court or (b) resulted in a prosecution and fines, in 1992–93 and in the current financial year.

Mr. Key

The number of VED enforcement cases brought to a successful conclusion in 1992–93 and between April and November 1993 were:

1992–93 April-March 1993–94 April-November
By out of court settlement 242,000 157,000
By prosecution 193,000 140,000

In addition, in 1992–93 180,000 motorists were induced to take out a licence as a direct result of enforcement action. To November this year the figure stands at 137,000.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many vehicle excise offences reports have been generated so far this financial year;

(2) how many vehicle excise offences reports were received by DVLA in 1992–93.

Mr. Key

The number of vehicles reported to DVLA for alleged VED offences in 1992–93 was 1.8 million and 1.2 million for this financial year to November.