§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Driving Standards Agency is currently involved in a market-testing exercise.
§ Mr. KeyMy Department's 1993–94 competing for quality programme includes the following activities within the Driving Standards Agency:
- driver test booking, finance and office services;
- regional property management;
- property maintenance inspections and reports;
- payroll service.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will make a statement on the announcement by the Driving Standards Agency of the intention to close driving test centres, with particular reference to which centres are involved; how many people are employed at each test centre; which are the parliamentary constituencies within which each testing centre lies; what are the amounts that will be saved by the closure of each of the testing centres; and on what basis the savings are calculated;
(2) how many people are currently employed at each testing station operated by the Driving Standards Agency;
(3) what current testing centres are operated by the Driving Standards Agency; and in which parliamentary constituency each lies;
(4) if he will make a statement indicating how many tests were carried out at each test centre currently operated by the Driving Standards Agency during the financial year 1992–93; how much revenue was raised at each testing centre; and how much each testing centre cost to operate.
§ Mr. KeyResponsibility for the subject of these questions has been delegated to the Driving Standards 335W Agency under its chief executive Dr. S. J. Ford I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Copies of the relevant annexes will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Dr. J. Ford to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 23 February 1994:
The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your Questions about DSA's national network of driving test centres and our intention to close 22 centres. Some of the information you require is not recorded by DSA on a routine basis, and the information supplied is the best we can assemble in the time available.
The closure programme announced recently followed the review of our estate envisaged in our published Business Plan for 1993–94. The continuing fall in demand for tests requires us to continue to reduce fixed costs, although cost is not the only criterion for assessing the future of a test centre. As set out in the Plan, centres were assessed against the following criteria:
- a. the number of satisfactory routes, including an assessment of the proportion of routes which include higher speed roads;
- b. the quality of facilities for customers, including the provision of toilets and off road parking;
- c. the financial efficiency, including the rent, maintenance and energy costs; and
- d. demand for tests at the centre and its proximity to other centres.
Where a centre scores badly on one or more of these four criteria, it will be reviewed for possible inclusion in our rationalisation programme. This includes a range of options from re-siting to merger with another centre or closure. With the sharp decline in tests over the past few years, closures have been inevitable, but the number of closures has not been proportionate to the drop in business.
Annex A lists the 22 centres we will be closing over the next year showing the constituencies in which they lie, the numbers of staff, testing volumes and the expected savings in both accommodation charges and, in the case of occasional centres, travel and subsistence expenses for deploying examiners to them from permanent centres. As you will see, most of the centres to be closed are outstations (occasional centres), some of which had very low levels of demand. The direct cost savings are naturally low when the usage is very low, but centres with very low demand are disproportionately complicated (and therefore more costly) to administer.
Annex B lists all our test centres by region, distinguishing between permanent centres and outstations (part time centres
336W
Systems of Grants in the European Community—Eligibility and Portability Tuition fees Form of main financial support Depends on income of student/ parents/ spouse Depends on academic criteria Percentage of all students receiving direct assistance Amount variable according to income anil or place of residence Other social benefits Belgium Fr. Comm. Family allowance paid until age 25 French community Yes Grant +loan Yes Yes Fr. C. 20 Yes Tax allowances Flemish community Yes Flem. Com. Yes Yes Fl. C. 23 Yes Reduced tuition less Grant Concessionary fares Denmark No Grant + loan No No 100 Yes No Federal Republic of No Grant 50% Yes Yes West Yes Family allowances until age 27 Germany loan 50% (33) East (90) Tax allowances Greece No Grant +loan Yes Yes 7 Yes Family allowances Free medical service Concessionary fares Free course material which are not permanently staffed, and where driving examiners are detached in to conduct driving tests). The annex lists staff in post, and the accommodation costs for each centre.
Annex C lists the parliamentary constituencies in which, understand, each test centre lies. This is not information which the Agency had to hand, and the attached list has been assembled as accurately as we are able in the time available. Our regional staff are in places uncertain of precise constituency boundaries in relation to test centre addresses, and it is therefore difficult to guarantee the absolute accuracy of the list.
The question on the revenues at each of the 484 centres and on the costs of operating each centre cannot be answered fully.
Because it is not relevant to the day-to-day running of the business, DSA does not routinely apportion other costs to the centres. (Most obviously the administration costs of operating the booking service, which tend to be higher for occasional centres, are not routinely apportioned; nor are the costs of moving examiners to part time centres.) Also, when a centre is selected for closure, the most significant cost saving might not be in these direct costs but in the saving of the costs which may be required to rebuild (£150 thousand to £250 thousand) or to refurbish a poor quality centre to bring it up to standard.
We do not have readily available the detailed analysis of volumes and revenue for each centre. This is information we normally monitor on a regional basis, although when we are considering the future requirements for a particular centre, volume data are assembled on a case by case basis (as in Annex A).