Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of instances where a driver’s details have been released to a controlled third party by the DVLA in each year since 2010.
Answered by George Freeman
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency routinely publishes information online on who it shares data with and the number of enquiries made. This is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/who-dvla-shares-data-with
The data is available from April 2015 and is updated every three months. Information from before April 2015 could only be provided at disproportionate cost as a scan of the relevant databases would be required to gather historic data.
The DVLA complies with all applicable data protection laws when processing personal information.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many requests for vehicle owner information have been made by overseas enforcement agencies in each of the last five years by country.
Answered by Michael Ellis
As part of the Cross Border Exchange Directive, EU Member States can request keeper or owner details of vehicles from other Member States, to follow up certain road traffic offences. CBE was implemented in the UK on 7 May 2017, the table below shows the number of requests for vehicle keeper information up to 27 June 2019.
| (from 7 May) 2017 | 2018 | (to 27 June) 2019 |
Austria | 15,988 | 30,530 | 8,786 |
Belgium | 7 | 11 | - |
Bulgaria | 1,222 | 2,693 | 1,235 |
Croatia | 218 | 367 | 102 |
Czech Republic | 86 | 2,115 | 1,474 |
Estonia | 7 | 2 | - |
Finland | - | - | 3 |
France | - | 36 | 241,467 |
Germany | 40,124 | 88,362 | 29,388 |
Hungary | 6,169 | 9,861 | 3,636 |
Italy | 13,586 | 58,832 | 21,422 |
Latvia | 13 | 512 | 15,354 |
Lithuania | 1,211 | 3,761 | 5,903 |
Luxembourg | 1,286 | 3,149 | 1,270 |
Malta | - | 2 | 43 |
Poland | 1,697 | 3,816 | 1,310 |
Slovakia | 199 | 408 | 195 |
Slovenia | 86 | 196 | 117 |
Spain | 1,199 | 51,851 | 16,863 |
The Netherlands | 55 | 3,569 | 21,961 |
In addition, the Home Office can receive requests for vehicle information from overseas authorities, through either Mutual Legal Assistance requests or European Investigation Orders. Information on the volume of these requests is not stored within the Department for Transport.
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 - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
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: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the DVLA database that records penalty points on drivers' licences is both paper-based and digital; and whether iinformation from that database can be easily and quickly shared with magistrates courts.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) only records penalty points and endorsements on its electronic database.
Courts in Great Britain have access to the electronic Drivers Validation Service, which provides immediate and up to date information on a driver’s record. Courts can also check driver records by sending a paper application form to the DVLA.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to make an assessment of the effectiveness of the DVLA’s current cost recovery model for fees levied to access driver records by private parking operators.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency keeps the cost recovery model for the fees levied for data release to private parking companies under regular review.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he last reviewed the fee for third parties seeking to access DVLA driver records to ensure it strikes the right balance between easy access to data and value for money for Government; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, regularly reviews the fees levied to access driver records. The last review took place in 2017.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will review the fee for third parties seeking to access DVLA driver records to ensure that it strikes the right balance between providing easy access to data and ensuring value for money for the Government.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) keeps the fees it charges for data release under regular review. The charges levied are intended to recover the full cost of providing the information, so that the DVLA neither profits at the expense of customers nor makes a loss for taxpayers to subsidise. This is in line with HM Treasury’s Managing Public Money guidance.
Over time, the costs of individual DVLA services can slightly increase or decrease, depending in part on the volume of requests, leading to a small surplus or deficit in the short term.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make the DVLA database accessible to Road Safety Partnerships to allow them to populate registration numbers on letters they send to speeding drivers.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency provides vehicle keeper information to UK police forces for use in road traffic enforcement. This information can already be used by Road Safety Partnerships involving the police to follow up speeding offences.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency received from charges for accessing records in each year from 2009-10 to 2014-15; and how many such requests were processed in each such year.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The total income received by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) from charges for requests for vehicle and driver information in each year from 2009/10 to 2014/15 is shown below:
2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
£9,414,000 | £9,412,000 | £10,354,000 | £11,180,000 | £12,878,000 | £15,021,000 |
The table below shows the number of chargeable requests made to the DVLA for vehicle and driver information in each year from 2009/10 to 2014/15:
2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
2,861,752 | 3,248,100 | 4,251,234 | 4,624,887 | 5,362,290 | 6,315,160 |
It is important to note that although the DVLA is permitted to charge a fee for the release of information, it is not permitted to profit from it. Fees are set to recover the related administrative costs for the different types of requests for information and the fee levels are regularly reviewed as the cost base changes over time. This means that it is the applicant and not the taxpayer who funds this activity.
There are a range of organisations outside of Government that legitimately request data from the DVLA. These range from insurance companies and finance companies to toll chargers. The DVLA also supply anonymised data to companies providing vehicle check services to improve road safety, consumer protection and deter vehicle crime.
The number of requests for data have increased during this period for a number of reasons including changes to car park management and the introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 which prohibited wheelclamping without lawful authority. Employers also need to check employee driving entitlement.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent assessment he has made of the merits of using vehicle registration databases held by the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority to increase levels of voter registration as part of his plans for individual electoral registration.
Answered by Greg Clark
Officials are currently working with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to pilot the use of data from vehicle registration databases and driver licence data to improve levels of voter registration.