Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to the requirement to display a tax disc in a vehicle on (a) enforcement activities, (b) the number of untaxed cars on the road and (c) the level of vehicle tax evasion in the UK in 2014-15.

Her Majesty’s Treasury carried out an assessment of the effects of the changes to the requirement to display a tax disc in a vehicle. This assessment was published alongside Finance Act 2014 and concluded that removing the requirement was not expected to have an impact on income from vehicle excise duty.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has not relied on the paper tax disc in the enforcement of vehicle excise duty for some time. The DVLA and the police largely rely on the DVLA’s electronic vehicle register and tools like Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to ensure that payments have been made.

The DVLA operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion, from reminder letters and penalties through to court prosecutions and the wheel clamping and/or removal of unlicensed vehicles.

These measures have helped to improve compliance. Vehicle Excise Duty evasion is at a historic low of 0.6%. The DVLA does not expect the abolition of the paper tax disc to result in an increase in vehicle excise duty evasion.