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
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
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
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
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.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what (a) central government and (b) local government databases electoral registration officers may use in undertaking their registration functions.
Answered by Greg Clark
The introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) will require Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to confirm existing electors and verify all new applicants to register to vote against data held by the Department of Work and Pensions and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. In addition, the Government is currently exploring using data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to further enhance the IER data matching processes as well as providing EROs with information which may help them identify unregistered eligible people.
Under existing legislation EROs are entitled to inspect any data held by the local authority which appointed them, including data held by private companies acting on behalf of the authority, in order to check the validity of applications to register and to identify potential new electors. The data sources which are available to EROs will vary with some EROs appointed by unitary authorities having access to a greater range of data than those appointed by district councils; the Government has introduced secondary legislation to address this issue by allowing district councils to request data from their county council.