Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of transferring further traffic commissioner functions relating to licence applications to the Traffic Commissioner for Wales in the context of enabling access to forms relating to licence applications in Welsh and in English.

The operator licensing system is a GB function responsible for the licensing and regulation of large commercial vehicles. Traffic commissioners are appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport and are deployed by the Senior Traffic Commissioner to eight traffic areas, one of which is Wales. There is a full time Traffic Commissioner for Wales, partly funded by the Welsh Government to carry out specific work for the benefit of Wales.

As the Traffic Commissioner for Wales is already responsible for the licensing and regulation of PSV and goods vehicle operators in Wales, there are no current proposals to transfer any further functions. The recent MoJ review of the traffic commissioner functions confirmed existing arrangements, although the need to review existing fees was acknowledged.

The traffic commissioners place a great deal of importance for their responsibility in ensuring the compliance with the relevant Welsh language legislation and in promoting the use of the Welsh language. An operator based in Wales is able to choose to correspond in the Welsh language. In 2016, the DVSA launched a new online business system for operators to apply and manage their licences online. Specific development work was carried out to ensure that this service was available both in Welsh and English.

Where manual forms are still required, these are available in the Welsh language, as are the majority of guidance forms produced by the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. Further work is being undertaken to update further guidance and in making them more easily accessible.