§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give for the last financial year(a) the target and (b) the actual outturn for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's vehicle excise duty enforcement.
§ Mr. KeyThe target set for successfully completed VED enforcement cases in 1993–94 was initially £445,000—later increased to £455,000. The outturn for the year was 455,420 cases.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the total cost to public funds to date of the DVLA vehicle registration office review; and what is the total budget for the review.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reasons the Association of Chief Police Officers was asked to meet the consultants carrying out the DVLA and VRO review.
§ Mr. KeyAs part of their work, the consultants were asked to recognise and balance the interests and requirements of various and separate VRO customer groups. Accordingly, the consultants met representatives of ACPO and a number of other organisations during the course of the review.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the revenue raised by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency owing to induced re-licensing.
§ Mr. KeyWe estimate that in 1991–92, some 115,000 evaders or would-be evaders were encouraged to relicense their vehicles as a direct result of vehicle excise duty enforcement activity, realising some £8.4 million in revenue which would not otherwise have been collected. In 1993–94, following the introduction of the red windscreen warning notice scheme, some 345,000 motorists were encouraged to relicense with revenue recovery of around £28 million.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport in what circumstances vehicle excise offence reports may be discarded.
§ Mr. KeyThe main reason for not proceeding with vehicle excise duty offence reports is that checks of the DVLA vehicle register reveal that the vehicles are in fact licensed and no offence has been committed. Other cases 521W are not completed because of defects in offence reports, more than one report being received for the same offence, problems in tracking down offenders, difficulties in serving summonses and availability of resources.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list by each "no further steps" code the number of vehicle excise offence reports that the DVLA closed in the last financial year.
§ Mr. KeyThe information is as follows:
Number NFS 1–8 (see note) 492,000 NFS 9 (arrears of duty paid) 5,563 NFS 10 (case returned unheard by court) 7,927 NFS 11 (induced relicensing brought about by excise offence report or out of court settlement) 130,000 NFS 12 (induced relicensing brought about by windscreen warning notices) 2,897 Note:
- CODE 1 Unable to trace offender.
- CODE 2 No Offence, e.g., vehicle not on public road.
- CODE 3 Summons not served.
- CODE 4 Unable to interview/establish responsibility for vehicle.
- CODE 5 Prosecution discontinued by Crown Prosecution/ Police.
- CODE 6 Specified difficulties, e.g., keeper deceased, bankruptcy.
- CODE 7 Out of time.
- CODE 8 Unactioned, e.g., information on Excise Offence Report insufficient/incorrect.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what assessment he has made of the success of the automatic first registration and licensing user acceptance run by the DVLA;
(2) what measures the DVLA intends to take to prevent fraud or misuse during the automated first registration and licensing trial in Bristol;
(3) if he will make a statement on the negotiations between the DVLA, motor car manufacturers and dealers over the introduction of automatic first registration and licensing;
(4) what security measures are in place for dealers or manufacturers taking part in the automated first registration and licensing trial run by the DVLA to protect the vehicle excise duty discs;
(5) what is the start date for the automatic first registration and licensing pilot; how many dealers and manufacturers are involved in the trial; what is the length of the trial; and what is the estimated number of transactions the dealers and manufacturers will handle during the trial period;
(6) which dealers have withdrawn from the automatic first registration and licensing pilot being run by the DVLA; and if he will make a statement;
(7) which registration year the dealers and manufacturers taking part in the automated first registration and licensing pilot scheme run by the DVLA will use;
(8) what was the original date of the automatic first registration and licensing user acceptance trial carried out by the DVLA; what is now the start date; and what are the reasons for the discrepancy;
(9) what sanctions are available to the DVLA against dealers refusing to sign up to the automatic first registration and licensing scheme when it goes live across the country.
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§ Mr. KeyIt was hoped that the first phase of the automated first registration and licensing scheme could have begun on 23 May. Unfortunately, user acceptance trials prior to that showed that more work needed doing on the computer programs, and the start date is now scheduled for 11 July, currently with the originally designated dealerships. Vehicles registered under the AFRL scheme will be allocated registration marks for the appropriate year.
Participation by dealers and manufacturers in automated first registration and licensing is voluntary, but I am confident that they will find the scheme offers a number of advantages. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and the Retail Motor Industry Federation with which we have negotiated and co-operated throughout the scheme are confident of a high take-up rate. Two manufacturers are expected to take part in the initial phase, which will cover three months, but others may join either in this or the one to take place in the autumn. I expect 2,000 vehicles to be registered by computer over the three months. Vehicle excise discs will be kept in a secure environment as required of all of our current licensing agents.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information on the owners of vehicles the DVLA gave to community charge collectors in Scotland in 1993–94; who was responsible for releasing this information; and what action is being taken.
§ Mr. Robert KeyUnder the Vehicle Excise and Registration Bill the Secretary of State can release the names and addresses of vehicle keepers to local authorities to assist in the investigation of an offence or where "reasonable cause" can be shown. The pursuit of unpaid debts by community charge collectors is covered by both these provisions and the information is accordingly released to local authorities by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the vehicle registration offices which have disabled access; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. KeyThe vehicle registration offices on the list provide disabled access to their customer service areas:
Vehicle Registration Offices with Access to Disabled Customers
Aberdeen, Bangor, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Croydon, Dundee, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Huddersfield, Hull, Ilford, Inverness, Ipswich, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Luton, Maidstone, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Stanmore, Stoke, Swansea, Swindon, Taunton, Truro.Where access is not available into Vehicle Registration Offices, alternative arrangements are normally made (eg a bell is available in another part of the building to call for a member of staff to attend the customer). All offices will fully assist disabled customers.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for the last financial year the number of excise offences reported to the Vehicle Registration Office network in the DVLA, the numbers processed and the money received by(a) out-of-court settlements and (b) successful prosecutions.
§ Mr. KeyThe information requested is as follows:
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Number Number of excise offences reported 1,891,000 Number of cases processed 1,631,000
£ million Revenue from out of court settlements 12.3 Revenue from prosecutions (fines, costs, unpaid duty (S.9 Vehicles Excise Act 1971)) 33.5
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of Slate for Transport who will decide whether to impose sanctions on a dealer misusing the automatic first registration and licensing system.