Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the data protection implications of the new DVLA online vehicle check service.

The vehicle enquiry service provides general information about vehicles and not individuals. The information included is therefore not covered by the Data Protection Act 1998.

The service was recently enhanced to include the taxation class and MoT status of vehicles. This was intended to help organisations to continue to provide the appropriate parking concessions and exemptions from certain tolls to users of vehicles in the disabled tax class, following the abolition of the tax disc.

The term "disabled" describes a vehicle’s tax class and does not refer to a living individual. Views have been expressed about the potential impact on the privacy of individuals who may be linked with vehicles licensed in the disabled tax class. The DVLA has removed all tax classes from the vehicle enquiry service while these matters are being considered in discussion with the Information Commissioner’s Office.