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Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties
Thursday 6th July 2023

Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the historic vehicle tax exemption by altering the 40-year rule to 30 years.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

At Budget 2014 the Government announced that it would introduce a rolling 40-year Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) exemption for classic cars in recognition of their important contribution to UK heritage and culture.

The Government has set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date to distinguish classic cars from those that are simply older vehicles and there are no current plans to reduce the tax exemption age to 30 years.

As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.


Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Licensing
Tuesday 21st February 2023

Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many vintage vehicles are currently licenced free of road tax; and what is the cost to the taxpayer of that concession.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

There are currently 1,102,021 vehicles in the historic vehicle taxation class. Of these 595,823 are currently licensed and attract a nil rate of vehicle excise duty.

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs publish official statistics on structural tax reliefs ever year. The latest estimate for the historic tax class was published on 12 January is £130m for 2022-23.


Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Registration
Thursday 10th March 2022

Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many classic vehicles have had their V5 documents rescinded by the DVLA; and whether his Department has plans to take steps in response to that matter.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not rescind vehicle registration certificates. The owners of some classic vehicles who may be unable to provide evidence of the vehicle’s history may not be allocated the vehicle registration number being requested.

Information about the number of these vehicles is not held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. A scan of the DVLA’s vehicle register and subsequent manual interrogation of each vehicle record would be necessary to obtain the information requested.

The DVLA regularly engages with historic vehicle owners’ clubs and considers information received from historic marque specialists in support of applications to register historic vehicles. The DVLA recognises that some vehicles require the expert opinion of specialists to ensure that historic vehicles are preserved. Every effort is made where evidence allows to reunite vehicles with their original registration numbers and if that is not possible to allocate alternative age-appropriate registration numbers.

The DVLA has recently set up a user group to support the historic vehicle sector. This promotes collaborative working between representatives from the historic and classic vehicle sector in relation to the DVLA’s services, policies, and initiatives.


Written Question
Flats: Insulation
Tuesday 15th February 2022

Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk that developments of blocks of flats between 11 and 18 metres in height that used (1) special purpose vehicles, or (2) shell companies, for their construction could avoid paying towards the £4 billion cost for cladding remediation.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

Leaseholders living in their own flats in medium and high-rise buildings should not pay a penny to remediate historic cladding defects that are no fault of their own. We are clear that industry must develop a system to resolve the problems they have caused and pay to fix them. If they do not do the right thing and step in then, if necessary, we will impose a solution upon them in law.


Written Question
Vehicle Number Plates
Wednesday 9th February 2022

Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what exemptions exist for historic and classic vehicles with regard to the use of GB national identifier badges mounted on plates integral to a car's chassis when driving overseas.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The UK is party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic which requires every motor vehicle in international traffic to display the distinguishing sign, also known as the national identifier, of the State in which it is registered. Since 28 September 2021, the national identifier for vehicles registered in the United Kingdom has been the letters UK. The Convention does not make provision for exemptions to this. Owners of historic and classic vehicles who do not wish to change the appearance of their vehicle may prefer to display removable magnetic ‘UK’ identifiers for use when driving overseas.


Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Registration
Thursday 13th January 2022

Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure historic marque specialists are consulted in the appeals process for rejected VC5 applications for historic vehicles.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

An application to register a used vehicle (which includes historic vehicles) with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for the first time takes on average between four to six weeks. A vehicle registration certificate (V5C) is then issued for the vehicle.

The DVLA advises applicants on how best to proceed with their application if further evidence is needed and information is also available on GOV.UK.

The DVLA regularly engages with historic vehicle owners’ clubs and takes into account information received from historic marque specialists in support of applications. The DVLA recognises that some vehicles require the expert opinion of specialists to ensure that historic vehicles are preserved. Every effort is made where evidence allows to reunite vehicles with their original registration numbers and if that is not possible to allocate alternative age-appropriate registration numbers.

The DVLA has recently set up a user group to support the historic vehicle sector. This promotes collaborative working between representatives from the historic and classic vehicle sector in relation to the DVLA’s services, policies, and initiatives.


Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Registration
Thursday 13th January 2022

Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce incorrect rejections of historic vehicles V5C forms.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

An application to register a used vehicle (which includes historic vehicles) with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for the first time takes on average between four to six weeks. A vehicle registration certificate (V5C) is then issued for the vehicle.

The DVLA advises applicants on how best to proceed with their application if further evidence is needed and information is also available on GOV.UK.

The DVLA regularly engages with historic vehicle owners’ clubs and takes into account information received from historic marque specialists in support of applications. The DVLA recognises that some vehicles require the expert opinion of specialists to ensure that historic vehicles are preserved. Every effort is made where evidence allows to reunite vehicles with their original registration numbers and if that is not possible to allocate alternative age-appropriate registration numbers.

The DVLA has recently set up a user group to support the historic vehicle sector. This promotes collaborative working between representatives from the historic and classic vehicle sector in relation to the DVLA’s services, policies, and initiatives.


Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Registration
Thursday 13th January 2022

Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average amount of time required by the DVLA is to process a new V5C registration application form for a historic vehicle.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

An application to register a used vehicle (which includes historic vehicles) with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for the first time takes on average between four to six weeks. A vehicle registration certificate (V5C) is then issued for the vehicle.

The DVLA advises applicants on how best to proceed with their application if further evidence is needed and information is also available on GOV.UK.

The DVLA regularly engages with historic vehicle owners’ clubs and takes into account information received from historic marque specialists in support of applications. The DVLA recognises that some vehicles require the expert opinion of specialists to ensure that historic vehicles are preserved. Every effort is made where evidence allows to reunite vehicles with their original registration numbers and if that is not possible to allocate alternative age-appropriate registration numbers.

The DVLA has recently set up a user group to support the historic vehicle sector. This promotes collaborative working between representatives from the historic and classic vehicle sector in relation to the DVLA’s services, policies, and initiatives.


Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Registration
Wednesday 12th January 2022

Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Buckingham)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to ensure that historic vehicles are protected from changes to (a) fuel standards and (b) other regulations.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Department continues to ensure the concerns of owners of historic vehicles are reflected in any regulatory changes.

Fuel quality standards in the UK are agreed through the British Standards Institution (BSI) liquid fuel standards committee, which includes representatives from the historic vehicles sector.

The quality of fuel sold in the UK is also ensured through the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 1999. Changes to these regulations are subject to consultation, in which the views of vehicle owners and their representative groups would be sought. This would also be the case for regulatory changes to motor vehicle standards.

For example, when E10 petrol was introduced last September we put in place provisions to ensure the continued availability of E5 petrol; we are also ensuring that current proposals to modernise vehicle standards do not prevent restoration, repairs or legitimate improvements to vehicles, including historic vehicles, or damage to the businesses involved in such activities.


Written Question
Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Sales
Monday 26th July 2021

Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many CVR T Scimitar Reconnaissance vehicles have been disposed of in the last 10 years; to which nations; and what the cost incurred or revenue gained was to his Department of those disposals.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

Over the last 10 years, a total of 123 Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) Scimitar have been sold; 42 via a Government-to-Government sale to Latvia, and 81 via the Defence Equipment Sales Authority's Surplus Vehicles Contract.

Due to the way in which historic disposals information is recorded, it is not possible to provide exact details of the income generated for Scimitar. However, the combined sales return for all variants of the CVR(T), totalling 592 vehicles, is £3.82 million (excl. VAT).