HC Deb 01 November 1994 vol 248 cc1032-3W
Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many(a) vehicle examiners and (b) traffic examiners were employed by his Department in each of the last six years;

(2) to what extent Vehicle Inspectorate and traffic and vehicle examiners undertake random roadside checks of vehicles;

(3) how many (a) vehicle examiners and (b) traffic examiners are employed by the Vehicle Inspectorate; and what are his projections for the numbers in the financial years 1995–96 and 1996–97.

Mr. Norris

This is an operational matter for the Vehicle Inspectorate. The chief executive has written to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ron Oliver to Mrs Gwyneth Dundwoody, dated 31 October 1994: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions about vehicle and traffic examiner staffing, and roadside enforcement checks. i. Vehicle and Traffic Examiner staffing Annex 1 updates the tables 1 sent to you on 18 July. These show the current staff in post figures. The information does not distinguish between operational and non operational staff so cannot be used to determine average man years spent on testing, and on roadworthness and traffic enforcement. Annex 2 is an analysis of average staffing by grade spent on vehicle testing and roadside enforcement activities. This information has been extracted from the Inspectorate's management accounts for the years 1988/89–1993/94. The Inspectorate is planning efficiency savings of 20 per cent. by April 1996. Total staffing across the Inspectorate will fall by 470 from an average staffing figure of 1,758 in 1994/95. Most of these losses will come from natural wastage and voluntary redundancy. Unfortunately it is too early to determine staffing levels in the operational divisions, but we intend to make up for staff reductions by improved efficiency, greater use of information technology, more

Average Vehicle and Traffic Examiner Staffing–1988/89 to 1993/4
Average Staffing in Man-Years
1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94
Vehicle Testing
PTO/AVE1 237 240 253 263 252 237
Road Transport Enforcement
Vehicle Examiners 228 233 244 268 278 244
Traffic Examiners 2— 2— 2— 170 172 166

Notes:

1 Vehicle Testing is conducted by PTOs(VEs), Tester and Assistant Vehicle Examiners. Unfortunately it is not possible to separate VE and AVE staffing.

2 The Traffic Examiners organisation did not become part of VE until April 1991.