Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to increase the number of driving license renewal applications that are processed in a timely manner.
The quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence is to do so online. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online services continued to work as normal throughout the pandemic and there are no delays for applications made in this way.
While the DVLA has remained open throughout the pandemic, the 6,000 staff are based predominantly in one building in Swansea. This means the DVLA has had a greatly reduced number of staff on-site at any one time due to social distancing requirements in Wales and this has led to delays in dealing with paper applications as these have to be dealt with in person on site. The DVLA has implemented measures to increase the number of staff on-site so paper applications can be processed as quickly as possible, including reconfiguring its office space to safely accommodate more operational staff.