DfT launches motoring services strategy

A strategy that sets out a vision for the Department for Transport’s (DfT) three motoring services agencies has been launched.  

The Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA); the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) are key to ensuring the United Kingdom’s road network plays its part in promoting the future prosperity of the nation.

Roads Minister Andrew Jones said: “The strategy sets out our vision for the agencies’ future: how we can better support those learning to drive to ensure they are properly prepared to take their practical test, what we can do to ensure haulage and bus and coach operators can access all our services efficiently and flexibly to suit their needs, and how we can best support the UK automotive industry.

“Recognising this country’s enviable road safety record, and the importance of the highway network to the economy, we reiterate the need for driver training that prepares people for a lifetime of safe road use. We will examine the potential benefits of different models for delivery of the practical driving test. We will strengthen the agencies’ relationships with commercial users of their services, whose needs can be very different from those of individual members of the public.

“We will examine how various transport industry sectors can be given greater responsibility in operating or testing vehicles. The agencies are almost entirely funded by user fees; so we will take a more methodical approach to reviewing those fees, to ensure that they are transparent and closely aligned to the costs of the services they cover.”

You can read the strategy here.