Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the move away from paper tax discs on levels of registration plate cloning fraud.

There is no evidence to suggest that there is a link between the removal of paper tax discs and levels of registration plate cloning.

There are robust measures in place to protect the integrity of the number plate system which have never relied on the availability of paper tax discs. Since 2003, number plate suppliers in England and Wales have been required to register with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) Register of Number Plate Suppliers. This requirement was extended to Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2008.

This regime was introduced to protect the integrity of number plates by ensuring that suppliers check a customer’s identity to ensure their entitlement to the registration number before selling them a replacement number plate. A team of DVLA enforcement officers conduct regular compliance visits to suppliers and work closely with the police and trading standards officials to share intelligence and support investigations and prosecutions.

DVLA will investigate where customers believe that their vehicle registration number is being used fraudulently.