Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the accessibility of the DVLA to people seeking to use its services.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has a range of services available online offering quick and easy ways of transacting. The DVLA’s online services have worked well and as normal throughout the pandemic. Between March and the end of August, the DVLA has issued nearly seven million registration certificates and three and a half million driving licences.

The DVLA’s 6,000 staff are largely based at a single site in Swansea and to adhere to Welsh social distancing requirements the number of staff onsite had been greatly reduced. This impacted on the time taken to process applications sent by post as these have to be dealt with in person. The DVLA has reconfigured its accommodation to maximise staff numbers whilst meeting the requirement in Wales to maintain the two-metre social distancing and ensure it remains Covid secure.

Drivers with a licence that expires between 1 February and 31 December 2020 have been given an automatic extension from the date of expiry. This means they will not need to renew their entitlement to drive until 11 months after the original expiry date.

The DVLA has also accelerated the development of additional online services to further reduce paper applications and supported their take up through a publicity campaign.