Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will include small and medium-sized enterprises in the procurement process for its contract to manage direct debit payments for vehicle tax discs.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will deliver direct debits for vehicle excise duty in two phases. Initially, the DVLA will partly use its existing contract for IT service provision with elements being subcontracted via an open competition which will include small/medium enterprise interest.

The full strategic solution will be pursued in an open competition which will start in 2015. This open competition will also invite interest from Government frameworks which support small/medium enterprise involvement.