Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to introduce a combined form to enable people to notify the DVLA of a change of address for both driving licence and registered vehicle keeper.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is currently improving the way it holds data and the services it provides to customers. As part of this process the DVLA will provide a new service to notify changes of address covering both driver and vehicle databases. As most customers want to notify changes online, the DVLA will focus on delivering a digital service, with other support and assistance available for those who need it.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans are in place to ensure that people who do not have access to the internet are not adversely affected by the operation of the registration process for change of ownership of vehicles through the DVLA.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Motorists can notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of a change of vehicle keeper by completing and posting the new keeper section of the vehicle registration certificate.
Those who use the paper route to notify the DVLA of changes to their vehicle record will receive a new vehicle registration certificate on the same timescale as those who notify the DVLA digitally.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of vehicles registered abroad in the UK; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure that those vehicles are fully taxed, insured and registered.
Answered by Jesse Norman
A survey is carried out every two years to collect information about vehicles travelling on the roads. Vehicles with non-UK registration numbers are identified during this survey. This information has been used to produce estimates of the number of foreign-registered vehicles in the UK and the latest available figures can be seen at: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/tra32-foreign-registered-vehicles-in-traffic.
Foreign registered vehicles that are brought temporarily into the UK are normally exempt from registration and licensing requirements for up to six months in any twelve month period, as long as they comply with the requirements of the home country. Once this exemption period has passed or the keeper of the vehicle becomes resident in the UK, the vehicle must be licensed and registered here.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency works with the police to enforce against foreign registered vehicles that have overstayed the exemption period. Where there is sufficient evidence that a vehicle keeper has not complied with UK requirements enforcement action, including the wheelclamping, removal and disposal of a vehicle, can be taken.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to use updated technology to reduce the evasion of tolls and penalty charge notices by foreign registered commercial vehicles; and whether he has plans to refuse entry to the UK to those who have evaded such charges.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In regards to the Dartford Crossing Highways England confirm that the vast majority of foreign drivers pay the charges and are not issued with fines.
Highways England also advise that Penalty Charge Notices issued overseas are issued with a warning letter to those using the Dartford Crossing for the first time. This offers a further opportunity to pay the original charge without accruing a fine. This avoids penalising road users that are unaware of the payment arrangements, and raises awareness so that advanced payments can be made in the future. Highways England uses a private collection agency called EPC plc to chase those foreign drivers who do not pay tolls and penalty charges.
Regarding the HGV Levy, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) note that enforcement of non-GB HGVs is a major priority for them. In 2016-17, it checked just over 88,000 non-GB HGVs at the roadside, which accounts for more than 62% of all HGV vehicles stopped for enforcement checks.
From those checks, DVSA issued just under 17,000 penalty notices. These covered offences including the non-payment of the HGV Levy, mechanical offences and drivers hours. In the last year, a number of vehicles were directed out of the country and many were immobilised until the problems identified had been rectified. There are no plans to change the rules on entry for this issue.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Statutory Off Road Notifications were received by the DVLA in (1) 2015, (2) 2016, and (3) 2017.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The table below shows the number of Statutory Off-Road Notifications received by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency over the last three calendar years. Figures for 2017 are only available from January to November.
| 2015 | 2016 | Jan-Nov 2017 |
Number of Statutory off Road Notifications | 3,410,483 | 3,625,901 | 3,519,333 |
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2017 to Question 108458, on motor vehicle: registration, whether the number of statutory off road notifications vehicles has increased in the last five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) forecasts the full Agency costs required to complete its activities and volumes stated in its Business Plan forecasts, taking into account efficiency plans. Over time the costs of individual DVLA services will change for many reasons including movement in volumes, digital channel take up and mandatory legislative changes. For this reason it is not possible to forecast the individual transaction costs for a year’s time in October 2018. However, in 2016/17, the cost per digital driving licence renewal and provisional driving licence application was £5.87 and £7.74 respectively.
The fees received for DVLA’s Vehicle Registration and Driver Licensing services are combined allowing the DVLA to recover the full costs of its activities. This approach is provided for in legislation and allows a range of both paper and digital transactions to be processed free of charge for customers. For example, the DVLA does not charge customers to change their address on its records as doing so may discourage people from informing of such changes which could impact on the accuracy of the DVLA’s records.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what change there has been in the number of (a) untaxed vehicles, (b) uninsured vehicles and (c) vehicles without an MOT in the last five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The latest available figures are the Vehicle Excise Duty Evasion Statistics which were published in November 2015. A time series back to 2007 can be found in table VED0101 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ved01-unlicensed-vehicles#table-ved0101 .
Official figures on the number of uninsured vehicles are not available. However, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau estimates that at the end of 2016 one million vehicles were uninsured compared with 1.26 million vehicles at the end of 2011.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency does not hold information about the number of vehicles without an MoT.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2017 to Question 108459, on motor vehicles: registration, what redress there is for local residents who live on a public road on which a SORN vehicle is not removed after 72 hours.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Vehicles that have been clamped for being unlicensed with a Statutory Off Road Notification in force should be removed from the public highway within 72 hours. Members of the public can report any vehicle that remains on the road longer than 72 hours after being clamped to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, using the telephone number shown on the clamp.
Any vehicle, whether it is clamped or not, that is causing an obstruction, is likely to cause damage, is broken down or abandoned without lawful authority, can be removed by the police.
Abandoned vehicles can also be removed by the relevant local authority using powers contained in the Cleaner Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2006.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions the DVLA has (a) written to or contacted and (b) initiated legal proceedings against sellers of motor vehicles for failing to use form V5C/3 to notify the DVLA of the transfer of a vehicle to a new owner in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Officials have advised that the information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The V5C/3 section of the Registration Certificate is used by a registered keeper to notify the DVLA of the disposal of a vehicle to a motor trader. The DVLA can write to, and take enforcement action against, those who fail to notify disposal of a vehicle.
However, over the last five years, more than 32 million people have notified the disposal of a vehicle to the motor trade by submitting a V5C/3 to the DVLA.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of SORN vehicles that remain on public highways after being clamped by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Answered by Jesse Norman
No estimate has been made on the number of unlicensed vehicles that remain on the public road with a Statutory off Road Notification (SORN) after being clamped by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). However, we expect the majority of these vehicles to have been licensed or moved off the public highway.
Any vehicles remaining unlicensed on the public highway risk being clamped again. When a vehicle is clamped by the DVLA for being unlicensed and with a SORN in force the keeper is required to relicense the vehicle or pay a surety in order for the clamp to be removed. If no action is taken, then the vehicle is removed from the public highway to a pound within 72 hours.
Local authorities and the police can also clamp and impound unlicensed or abandoned vehicles.