Corporate report

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency business plan, 2023 to 2024

Published 21 November 2023

Non-executive Chair and Chief Executives’ foreword

We recently published our strategic plan to 2025 and vision to 2030 to set out what we must do to make transport safer, greener and healthier. Our vision sets out our challenges and why they matter, and it guides much of this business plan.

In 2022 to 2023, we continued to respond to the challenges to our services following the pandemic. The aftermath brought its difficulties too, and we are incredibly proud of our successes and dedication to tackling the issues that we faced. DVSA worked tirelessly to:

• continue to provide tests for new drivers through government funded HGV Skills Bootcamps
• reduce waiting times to pre-pandemic levels for vocational practical driving tests, meeting the needs of industry and supporting the economy
• reduce car practical test waiting times and increase the number of tests available to be booked by recruiting and training large numbers of new driving examiners
• launch the ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign and encourage instructors to conduct mock tests to increase the driving test pass rate
• start texting candidates who have booked their own test to increase attendance and reduce wasted test appointments
• help tackle bots that exploit learner drivers, by introducing our Advanced Bot Protection for all booking services
• keep improving MOT services, including reminders, and increase the use of automated test equipment
• work with vehicle manufacturers on improving our data on unfixed vehicle recalls to improve rectification rates
• keep increasing the number of Vehicle Standards Assessors and open new Authorised testing Facilities (ATFs)
• develop new digital services for our commercial vehicle testing customers, including rolling out the on-line Manage Your Vehicle Testing Service for ATFs
• provide remote enforcement opportunities and provide a more efficient service by trialling new equipment such as the Mobile Inspection Unit and tachograph sensing equipment

In 2023 to 24 we will build on our excellent progress and further develop our digital capability by:

• starting work to replace the Testing and Registration System (TARS) with a new Driver Services Platform
• investing in our commercial vehicle digital services by building on the new digital Manage Your Vehicle Testing Service
• implementing a new casework management system to improve consistency and provide more and better management information reporting

Working with the Department for Transport we will:

• remain a key part of the CAVPASS programme, which will implement all the changes needed to safely regulate automated vehicles
• identify the legislation impacted by the Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill and appropriately classify the REUL items for all vehicles and for the theory and practical driving tests
• work with industry to improve the MOT service following the recent call for evidence

Keeping Britain moving, safely and sustainably

We will pursue our newly stated purpose while also making sure we continue to support and develop our colleagues to build the skills, knowledge and experience they need to serve our customers with confidence.

We will keep investing and building on our leading-edge wellbeing package, supporting our colleagues to make DVSA a great place to work.

Nick Bitel
DVSA Non-Executive Chair

Loveday Ryder
DVSA Chief Executive

Executive summary

To achieve our vision and strategy we have set ourselves some challenging targets for the coming year. These measures will help us to provide a high level of service to customers and focus on areas such as:

• waiting times for our car, bike and vocational practical tests as well as our theory test service
• satisfaction among all of our customers
• tackling defects, fraud, negligence and offences
• response times to all communications received, including calls, emails and official correspondence

We are also continuing to build on our supporting services by further diversifying our workforce and developing the wellbeing and skills of our people to create a better place to work.

Digital data and technology (DDaT) drives all that we do, providing thinking and assurance of design to support development and continuous improvement in line with the Cabinet Office’s DDaT Strategy and Government Cyber Strategy.

Our financial forecasting for the year projects a net deficit of £57,881,000. Our projected income for the year is £399,626,000 with a total expenditure of £448,121,000.

Following the revocation of its trading fund status on 1 April 2021, DVSA continues to be largely funded from fees charged for the delivery of its operational activities. Services which are not funded by fees (such as some enforcement activity) are now funded centrally and no longer received as income from DfT.

The deficit represents enforcement activities funded by DfT and also where fees do not cover the full costs of delivering the service. DVSA are currently pursuing a fees strategy to generate additional income to cover the full cost of fee-related activity. Due to the legislative timetable to increase fees, we expect to be in receipt of the increased fee income from October 2024.

Full details, including further information on our Resource and Capital Departmental Limit (RDEL / CDEL) can be found in Annex A.

The business plan will begin with our specific measures for the year before providing further information on the work that we will need to do to achieve these measures.

Who we are and what we do

DVSA is an executive agency of the Department for Transport responsible for things like:

• carrying out theory tests and driving tests for people who want to drive cars, motorcycles, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), buses and coaches, and specialist vehicles
• approving people to be driving instructors and motorcycle trainers
• approving training courses for qualified drivers, such as Driver CPC courses for HGV, bus and coach drivers, and drink-drive rehabilitation courses
• approving MOT centres, people to be MOT testers, and testing HGVs and buses ourselves
• checking commercial drivers and vehicles, remotely and at the roadside, to make sure they follow safety rules
• monitoring recalls of vehicles to make sure that manufacturers fix problems
• licensing and monitoring companies who operate goods vehicles, buses and coaches

We are funded chiefly through the fees we charge for our services and employ about 4,600 people. Our purpose in all this is to keep Britain moving, safely and sustainably. The challenges of this decade mean we are at a pivotal point in our history. So as well as this business plan, in 2023 we have published our vision to 2030 and our strategic plan to 2025. We refer to these throughout this plan to show how we will contribute to:

• make roads safer
• improve services for our customers
• make road transport greener and healthier
• harness the potential of technology and data
• grow and level up the economy

To realise our ambitions, we will need the help of all our partners. We work closely with these industries:

• driver and rider training
• MOT
• road haulage and passenger transport
• vehicle manufacturing

And, among others, we work with these government colleagues:

• the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain and the Transport Regulation Unit in Northern Ireland – they license and regulate those operating heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) – they’re responsible for vehicle tax, vehicle registration and for issuing driving licences
• the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) – they’re responsible for testing and certifying new vehicles for use on UK roads, to international standards
• the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) – they’re shaping the safe and secure introduction of connected and self-driving vehicles
• National Highways – they manage England’s motorways and major A roads
• Health and Safety Executive – they regulate workplaces, plants and equipment
• Active Travel England – they promote cycling and walking, and better designed street environments
• Environment Agency – they regulate major industry and waste
• police – they work with us on intelligence and enforcement operations

Governance

Our Chief Executive, Loveday Ryder, leads the agency with the support of DVSA directing board, committees and groups. The agency’s governance arrangements reflect best practice and give confidence we use our resources efficiently, embedding and using functional standards to support continuous improvement within the agency and to meet our strategic priorities.

Management and control of our risks

Risk management is an integral part of the agency’s work, from how we manage our programmes, services, and our finances, to how we develop our policies and work with the Department for Transport (DfT) family. The agency’s Risk Management Framework and Risk Appetite Statements are reviewed and refreshed annually by the directing board. The agency is subject to internal and external audits, which ensure that our processes and procedures are robust. Regular assurance, good governance and efficiency are central to the government’s public bodies transformation programme.

Our vision is to keep Britain moving, safely and sustainably

How the agency is changing

Road casualties devastate families and put pressure on the NHS and emergency services. And so does poor air quality. Failure to tackle climate change risks health, food supplies and more extreme weather. DVSA has a role in the health of the economy and supply chains too. We need to harness technology, help our people thrive, and work with partners to give fair and better value services.

Our vision to 2030, published in March 2023 alongside our strategic plan to 2025, sets out what we must do to make transport safer, greener and healthier. One of our highest priority challenges is to support DfT’s Future of Transport programme. Our vision sets out our guiding principles and what we must achieve to tackle any such challenge.

Our strategic plan to 2025 sets out our plans to March 2025 and demonstrates our drive for more efficient services. It explains how we continue to build on this to support the government’s ambitions for civil service reform. This business plan covers the year 2 of that strategic plan. There will also be a departmental review of the agency during the period covered by this strategy.

Service Delivery

In July 2019 the DfT published a road safety statement and 2-year action plan. DVSA and the other motoring services agencies Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and Vehicle Certification Agency (DVLA and VCA) continue to prioritise road safety and support these initiatives.

We will continue to look for opportunities to develop our training and assessment of drivers and riders in light of the available evidence. We will harness technology and promote good practice through accreditation of third parties’ interventions.

Our customers are at the heart of what we do. Over the next 2 years we will continue to improve our services and inform and educate both the public and businesses. We must do things differently, more efficiently and better to make road transport safer, greener and healthier. We need to make sure our services are focused on addressing those challenges. We will do this by transforming our services to make them more efficient, simpler to use and to provide the outcomes that make the biggest difference to society.

DVSA will prioritise service to achieve its vision and strategic plan. We will enhance our customers’ experience by being more effective and efficient in our decisions and actions. We will focus our activities and resources on these improvements and be more agile in responding to customer feedback and problems.

We will continue to work with a broad range of partners to improve our services and give our customers and stakeholders value for money.

Future Vehicle Technology

Vehicle technology continues to develop at a rapid pace. DVSA has a key role in ensuring that these changes bring improved road safety and deliver more sustainable transport options for our citizens. Electric, self-driving and connected vehicles and roads promise to keep us safer from injury, death, pollution and climate change. They can also improve the efficiency of roads and supply chains and bring a wealth of data which can transform our services and increase value for money.

DVSA will remain a key part of DfT and the Department for Business and Trade’s Connected and Automated Vehicles Process for Assuring Safety and Security (CAVPASS) programme. During 2023-24 we will define our role with the new safety regimes – in particular around that of ‘in-use regulator’. DVSA will have a significant role in providing input into how automated vehicles drive, and we will support various early trials of automated vehicles on roads in Great Britain. This will bring significant change to our services over time and we expect to invest in research activities to inform our decision making.

We will continue to work towards modernising our approach to vehicle inspection (including the MOT), to reflect new and future vehicle technologies. The vehicle inspection regime already covers electric and alternatively fuelled vehicles, but we will continue to develop procedures to ensure that they are safe and fit for purpose. We will also continue to explore new ways of assessing a vehicle, or a vehicle system’s safe operation, through alternative methods – including the use of data collected by a vehicle (rather than physical inspections).

Plans for 2023 to 2024

Our performance targets for the year set out our priorities and our major projects for 2023 to 2024. There are 3 duties within each group of services.

Helping you through a lifetime of safe and sustainable journeys

We will concentrate on customer needs and reducing test waiting times. We are determined to do much more to inform, educate and advise everyone how to say safe. And we want to help people manage their costs and their business including recruitment and development of drivers to support the national supply chain.

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
Car practical driving tests waiting times at 7 weeks or less	By March 2024
Car practical driving test candidates (overall) satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	75%
Car practical driving test candidates who passed their test satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	85%
Theory test candidates satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	85%
Theory test candidates waiting times average during 2023 to 2024	4 weeks or less
Vocational practical test waiting times average during 2023 to 2024	3 weeks or less
Vocational candidates satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	80%
Motorcycle practical test waiting times average during 2023 to 2024	6 weeks or less
Motorcycle candidates satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	80%
Approved driving instructor satisfaction with the service they receive from DVSA to increase compared with previous year	At least 5 percentage points

Returning waiting times to pre-pandemic levels

Our focus this year will be on recovery of our services, in particular reducing the waiting times for car practical driving tests. As we take action to reduce waiting times we will need to be flexible about what we deliver and when, to ensure we maximise our chances at recovery whilst not adversely impacting on our customer service.

We will continue to work towards recovering our driving test waiting times back to levels experienced before the pandemic. We will do this by continuing to maximise the utilisation of our driving examiners whilst recruiting and training new examiners to increase test availability.

Working with government and our industry partners, we will maintain the enhanced capacity of HGV driver boot camps and driving tests that we delivered in 2022, helping to ensure the UK has enough skilled drivers to keep Britain moving.

We will support vocational training organisations to do test manoeuvres and increase training for new delegated vocational examiners to improve resilience and flexibility.

Driver Certificate of Professional Competence

A review into the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC) scheme was conducted by the Department for Transport in 2022 , following a request from industry during the Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) and Public Service Vehicle (PSV) driver shortages in 2021-22. The review found that while DCPC should be retained it would benefit from reform, setting out how this could be achieved. DfT consulted on proposals which are intended to reduce the burden of DCPC for drivers. These consultations included reforming training (for example increasing flexibility by reducing minimum course lengths), introducing the option of a test instead of training and introducing regulations to allow short-term extensions and exemptions to DCPC in times of exceptional need (for example during a pandemic or where there are acute driver shortages). Any changes will require a change to legislation, including the introduction of a domestic qualification for those drivers who intend to drive only in Great Britain.

During 2023-24, and subject to the outcome of the consultation, we will develop and adapt our systems to introduce these changes. Other changes have been proposed by industry stakeholders such as creating common training content with subject matter experts and encouraging information assessment as part of training course. We will make these changes and will work with training providers on the detail of these proposals.

Theory test service

Following on from our preliminary work in 2022-23, we are working to remove the need for printed certificates in our theory test service.

Providing digital results was the first step in our transition to a paperless solution. We will use the data and feedback from the digital results to learn, improve and provide additional value to our customers in 2023-24. We will maximise the benefits of the digital results and be in a position to implement a paperless certificate when legislation allows.

We continue to work on the performance and stabilisation of the theory test’s digital platform. We will be using a new performance testing solution ensuring robust testing of new features before they go live, improving the customer experience and eliminating any issues with broken bookings and cancellations in our live system. This will also help us understand how our system can be impacted by third parties who employ automated bots to book tests and resell to our customers at a higher price.

Making motorcycling safer

The Road Safety Delivery Group provides an opportunity for important road safety stakeholders to share knowledge and experience. The Motorcycle Strategic Focus Group, chaired by DVSA, considers the wider issues affecting motorcyclists, such as safety technology and future connectivity advances and how we embed motorcycling more effectively in our future policies and road safety strategies.

When Parliamentary time allows, we’ll introduce a package of measures to improve the way motorcycle training works, so that newly qualified riders are better prepared for riding on modern roads.

Other improvements to our driver service

We will further explore and develop our thinking around what a modern and responsive driving test service will look like in the future. Our focus will be on exploring opportunities to provide a more flexible delivery model. By investing in technology, we can reduce our requirement to be tied to a fixed estate while maintaining our ability to access suitable road networks on which to assess a learner driver’s ability to drive independently.

We have commissioned a short study, looking at the development of a technological solution to enable us to automatically generate driving test routes. We are seeking to eliminate the time taken to design test routes along with significantly reducing the amount of time driving examiners spend learning new test routes. Most importantly it will enable candidates to focus on developing their driving skills, instead of learning the test routes, promoting a lifetime of safe driving.

We are considering how the eyesight test is administered during a driving test and will engage with DVLA’s Medical Panel to ensure that any new procedures meet the current standards. Potential changes to how we conduct the eyesight test were the subject of a public consultation. Most respondents supported the proposal to have more flexibility about how we conduct the eyesight test. The aim of the change is to provide more flexibility about when the driving test is conducted and in different levels of light.

We will enhance our range of learning materials. This will help experienced drivers and riders adapt to recent changes in the Highway Code, with content on the most recent changes, including driver assistance and self-driving features. We will also support developments in rider training and Driver CPC for vocational drivers for safer and more sustainable journeys.

We plan to replace the Testing and Registration system (TARS) with a new Driver Services Platform. Services included in TARS are:

• driving test bookings and resourcing
• administration of the instruction registers
• recording training for professional lorry and bus drivers for Driver CPC

In the coming year customers and stakeholders can expect to see improvements to the booking system and the online business service for instructors to manage their pupils’ test appointments.

During 2023-24 we will assist with policy support around the implementation of regulations for e-scooters. We will support DfT and other partners as they gather evidence to inform decisions on e-scooters and other new powered light vehicles including those with zero emissions.

We will continue to improve the quality of training by encouraging and supporting the continual professional development of Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs), targeting strengths and weaknesses using performance data and direct engagement about customer needs.

We will review our Local Driving Test Managers and Driving Examiner induction and ongoing continuous professional development training to ensure that it reflects our ambition to become a more customer centric organisation. Where there are gaps in this training we will develop and deliver material that both sets the standards of customer service that we expect, and provides the tools to meet these standards.

Customer Account Managers (CAM) were introduced on a pilot basis in November 2021. They have played a pivotal role in building relationships with the haulage industry, reducing the waiting times for HGV driver testing and supporting our response to the government’s programme to address the HGV driver shortage. Their work has contributed in a significant increase in the number of vocational driving tests conducted, meeting the new HGV test waiting time target of 3 weeks or less by December 2022.

Approved motorcycle training bodies face similar challenges and would benefit from a closer relationship with the DVSA to manage their testing requirements. The Customer Account Management team will have the skill set to be well placed to address these challenges and we will widen the scheme during 2023-24 to offer them the same service.

Helping you keep your vehicle safe to drive

We work with industry partners to keep all vehicles as safe and sustainable as possible. We will keep improving our services in this area – heavy vehicle testing, MOT and vehicle approvals. In particular, we will be guided by the customer needs revealed by our 2022 review. They include the way we deliver approvals, the Heavy Vehicle Testing Review and outcomes from DfT’s call for evidence on MOT testing.

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
Authorised testing facilities satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	85%
Operators satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	80%
MOT centres satisfied with the service they receive from DVSA	85%

MOT

Our work on improving the MOT service will be heavily influenced by the call for evidence and consultation, launched in January 2023. We will be working closely with DfT and industry partners to ensure that our plans are reflective of what this tells us.

Currently, we expect existing work to focus on helping industry test to the right standards, better enabling us to detect and deal with deliberate and fraudulent behaviours that compromise the MOT. This will include looking to implement work piloted in 2022-23 on recording photos of vehicles at test, and building on the machine learning technology we already deploy that helps identify patterns of fraudulent behaviours in MOT garages.

For our public facing services – in particular MOT history, we will continue to improve these services. This includes adding data from tests conducted in Northern Ireland in 2022-23. We will continue to move away from paper certificates for all vehicles and encourage motorists to view their MOT status online. Additionally, we will further enrich MOT data to include information for customers about outstanding safety recalls – and we believe this will reduce numbers of dangerous vehicles on the roads.

Commercial vehicle testing

Much of the focus for 2023-24 will be to ensure that the service best meets user needs – including focusing on delivering the remaining commitments from the Heavy Vehicle Testing Review. A key area for this will be around how we allocate testers to Authorised Testing Facilities (ATFs), ensuring that the best possible service is provided to vehicle users. We will start to implement ways of working that best provide the predictability and flexibility that is needed. We will also invest in new digital services that help us do this efficiently and effectively – building on the Manage Your Vehicle Testing digital service launched in 2022-23.

We will continue to grow our tester numbers to ensure that we can best meet demands. This will be done in conjunction with a review of how we charge for our services – ensuring that our customers get the flexibility they need from an enlarged testing team, and that there is a clear funding stream to cover our costs. We will also prioritise new ATFs where there are gaps in our network. This will include certain geographic locations and, more significantly, those that can test the full range of hazardous goods vehicles.

As for the light vehicle MOT, we will continue to modernise the test in line with changes to vehicle technology. This will likely include more research on how we test emissions – to ensure that vehicles are working as they should.

Continued investment in our new digital services will make it easier for our customers to do business with us. This will include current and historical test results available through our MOT History Service and moving to digital test certificates.

Vehicle approvals

Vehicle approvals will be at the heart of DVSA’s efforts to enable and promote innovation in the UK automotive sector – providing a simple route to approval for one-off and low volume vehicles. This focus will be important as the sector innovates in automation and new power trains.

In response to feedback from our customers we will implement improvements to our vehicle approval service. These include:

• modernising our application, payment and booking processes and making them easier to use for our customers through our Manage Your Vehicle Testing digital service
• creating a network of third-party sites where our examiners can perform approval examinations in areas of high demand, including the introduction of temporary ‘pop-up’ sites for bespoke builders/converters

Recalls

We have started work on building ways for vehicle manufacturers to send us data on the recall status of vehicles. This will enable the data to be tracked and for support to be offered where recall rates are low. It will also allow us to use the data to promote recall take-up where needed. Further work with manufacturers to increase the number of manufacturers sharing data with us will minimise the numbers of dangerous vehicles on our roads.

Emissions

Across all our services, we will continue to look to improve how we assess the correct function of vehicle emissions control systems. This will mean looking to implement what we can from pilots by assessing different elements of emissions. This is expected to include Particulate Number (PN) Testing – the checking of volumes of small, harmful particulates from a diesel engine.

Protecting you from unsafe drivers and vehicles

We aim to make every journey safer, greener and cleaner and put the customer at the heart of what we do. But our plan is also designed to achieve positive value for businesses.

We aim to:

• enable customers with clear, accessible advice
• prevent non-compliance with help to avoid repeated prohibitions
• respond strongly, based on ever improving intelligence and evidence

This will reduce the burden enforcement places on us and on industry. Then we can concentrate our resources in the right place and at the right time to remove the serious and serial offenders from the market.

Performance measures

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
Risk based targeted approach to detect serious roadworthiness defects and traffic offences	28,000
Maintain the number of MOT cases where we act upon the most serious fraud, dishonesty and negligence and increase by 10% the number of cases laid to court for prosecution from these investigations	From the 2021 to 2022 baseline
In support of the Traffic Commissioners strategic objectives, we will process HGV operator licence applications in an average of 35 working days or fewer	By March 2024
To raise awareness of the Earned Recognition (ER) scheme to combined authority mayors and local authorities. Encouraging the take up of ER across their own fleets of lorry, bus and coaches, and using ER standards to select commercial vehicle operator contracts (HGV & PSV). Achieve active engagement with combined and local authorities championing a greater awareness of the road safety benefits across all our major cities.	By March 2024

International cooperation and data sharing

The UK/EU Trade Co-operation Agreement requires sharing of information relating to operators, serious infringements and repute regarding commercial vehicle operations with their home nation. We will be ready to deliver the technical solution on behalf of DfT. This will enable the sharing of information once the full details have been agreed between the UK and the EU.

Review of sanctions

Working with DfT we have identified a need to increase the scope of sanctions in the commercial vehicle transport sector. Currently, the level of fines available under the statutory framework for non-compliant drivers are perceived to be too low to deter serious non-compliance without reporting cases to an already over-burdened court prosecution system. In order to issue larger fines we would require the introduction of powers to impose civil penalties for more serious offences, such as drivers’ hours and tachograph fraud. During 2023-24 we will work with DfT to identify the necessary legislative changes.

New technology and remote enforcement

Since April 2022 we have been trialling equipment known within the industry as Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC). This tachograph sensing equipment is used to identify vehicles with the latest smart tachos installed, so it allows remote inspection of certain events, faults and offences. While the initial trial has shown that this technology is still in its infancy, it is expected that future versions will improve accuracy and the ability to detect some of the more serious offences we are keen to investigate. In 2023-24, we will expand the trial from its current geographical locations to give more of our staff experience in what we expect to be a useful tool in targeting the most seriously non-compliant.

As part of our drive to carry out more robust vehicle inspections at the roadside we have been trialling a Mobile Inspection Unit (MIU). During 2023-24 this bespoke piece of equipment will initially be used at a roadside site which does not have access to an inspection pit or roller-brake tester as we continue to analyse its benefits compared to the use of more traditional fixed sites. Evidence from these trials will inform our plans to use more MIUs and base these at a greater range of locations, such as motorway service areas and large car parks.

We continue to identify opportunities for digital and remote enforcement interventions, using all technology available to us. Working alongside the Strategic Traffic Management Office, and using data from the national Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system, we will trial new remote initiatives against non-compliant operators. These initiatives would previously have only been identified through roadside encounters, for example, identifying lorries and buses without a valid MOT certificate.

Improving punctuality, upholding accessibility standards and reducing fraud in the bus industry

Our bus operator account managers will facilitate partnership working between operators and local authorities in order to improve bus punctuality. We place an emphasis on education, prevention and improvement but where there is evidence of serious non-compliance, we take further investigative action and report operators to the Traffic Commissioners where appropriate. During 2023-24, we will work with DfT to make effective use of data analysis from the Bus Open Data System (BODS). This will enhance our enforcement activity by both bolstering roadside monitoring and enabling increased use of desk-based monitoring.

To support the government’s continued commitment to upholding accessibility standards in the bus and coach industry, DVSA is proactive in enforcing the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) Accessibility Regulations. During this year we will streamline the complaints process to make it easier for the public to report alleged instances of non-compliance. This will better empower transport users and improve intelligence gathering to support more effective enforcement.

To improve the detection of fraudulent claims under the Bus Service Operator Grant (BSOG) system, DfT are creating a risk rating system. This will enhance our targeted approach to identifying fraud and will also assist operators in preventing issues and inadvertently falling foul of the rules. By implementing this system, we also expect to identify more cases, which will increase our outputs in the future.

We will continue to work with DfT to identify and resolve some of the complex and technical legal issues affecting the community transport sector. Building on previous consultations, our collaborative efforts will enable us to update policy where applicable to address the issues faced by community transport operators and provide assistance to enable them to comply.

Other improvements to our enforcement service

DVSA Earned Recognition (ER) will continue to promote the ER brand and seek opportunities with stakeholders and industries across DVSA. Designing schemes to encourage and reward the highest level of compliance and service standards will improve road safety outcomes and public services, for the benefit of citizens across Great Britain.

Working in collaboration with the police, Traffic Commissioners and other industry partners, we will help to deliver the pilots that have been identified through the ongoing roads policing review. This is a forum, jointly chaired by the Home Office and DfT, providing collaboration across all agencies to identify opportunities to improve roads policing. We are currently leading the Commercial Vehicle Pilot in the South West which is a pilot to:

• augment commercial vehicle police activity in the region
• introduce and test processes for information
• share intelligence across the police and DVSA

This intelligence sharing covers Heavy Goods Vehicles and Public Service Vehicles (HGVs and PSVs) and includes sharing of targeting information, analysing encounter results and taking enforcement action on outcomes.

During 2023-24, we will implement a new and improved casework management system, providing a modern casework tool for our staff and improving efficiency. Further benefits include improved consistency in working practices and providing a significantly enhanced management information reporting capability.

We will be implementing the latest version of our intelligence software which incorporates links to other information sources. This not only improves the depth of information in our intelligence packages, it also speeds up the process, resulting in more timely and better informed enforcement actions.

We will be producing intelligence packages, targeting the high risk and serially and seriously non-compliant using new mapping capability, allowing vehicles to be targeted regardless of where they operate.

Further improvements include implementation of a system to help identify those who commit theory test fraud, increasing our capacity and accuracy and therefore reducing this type of fraud.

As part of our continued improvement of the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) system, we will implement a solution to allow the collection of police encounter data. This will enable us to take appropriate follow up action and increase our capability to identify operators that present the greatest risk to road safety.

We will conduct a review of our OCRS process to identify opportunities to deliver an improved service, for example by adding vehicle-specific information and the use of artificial intelligence.

We will continue to use cutting edge analysis of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) data to target the most serious and serially non-compliant operators and vehicles, reducing the burden on compliant operators whilst focusing efforts on those who break the rules. This technology compliments the work of our Criminal Analysis Unit, supporting their innovative intelligence analysis and mapping, whilst also identifying opportunities for our Remote Enforcement Office (REO) to trial new remote enforcement initiatives.

During 2023-24, we will also support assessors authorised to conduct the off-road manoeuvres of the vocational test with audits, taking action if necessary to ensure consistency.

We will work with DfT to implement recommendations from the Trailer Safety Report – in particular for those not regulated by the existing HGV testing scheme. We will continue to conduct enforcement checks to understand overall compliance levels, and will carry out focused work to address problem areas which could include additional work around promoting the testing of light trailers.

Our Market Surveillance Unit (MSU) will continue to deliver high quality testing and assessment of a wide range of vehicles and components. There will be a continued focus on emissions, but other areas such as electrically assisted pedal cycles and e-scooters will also be checked. We will take appropriate enforcement action when necessary, including prosecution.

During 2023-24 we will be working with the Office of the Traffic Commissioners to deliver a trial of digital Public Inquiry bundles which is aimed at improving quality, consistency and efficiency of the Traffic Commissioner Public Inquiry process. The process will be based on the same technology used by other UK justice administrations to build a flexible service which has increased security of data and reduces costs associated with printing postage and storage of paper files.

Modernisation of Vehicle Operator Licensing (VOL) will improve processes used across the Office of the Traffic Commissioner, contributing to efficiency savings and raising standards.

Our customers

Performance measures

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
Call handling times	70% of calls handled within 60 seconds
Achieve the Customer Contact Association Global Standard 8 accreditation for our contact centre	By March 2024
Provide a response to Freedom of Information requests	Within 20 working days
Provide a response to Parliamentary questions	By their due date
Provide a response to ministerial correspondence	Within agreed timescale
Provide a response to official correspondence	Within 20 working days

We are committed to providing simple, clear and fair services for our customers. Our services should work the way our customers want them to, with an emphasis on continuous improvement so that our customers’ experience continues to improve, from making transactions, to passing their test, and dealing with us digitally or face to face. We asked our customers what they need from us and have designed the following set of principles based on this research.

Fair

We apply and assess the standards that we set fairly.

Consistent

We apply our standards consistently, regardless of where you live and who’s assessing.

Clear

We’re clear, useful and trusted. We write in plain English, and our customers always understand what happens next.

Professional

We’re courteous, honest, accurate, knowledgeable and follow the civil service values.

Helpful and approachable

We ask our customers for their views before we change policies and introduce new services. We listen, inform, educate and advise to achieve the best possible outcome for everyone.

We will continue to review our Customer Service Centre’s capacity to make sure we have the right channels and resource to satisfy customers. We will implement new technology to improve customer insight and satisfaction. As part of this we are reviewing user and customer research on the deployment of a web/live chat system to better serve the needs of our customers. With a potential implementation in future years, we are also considering the use of a chat function that does not require real time answers (known as asynchronous chat). This facility could potentially benefit customers who would prefer not to interact in real time and is subject to user research.

Our people

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
Continue to increase the percentage of our people from underrepresented groups: • 16 to 24-year-olds • disabled people • people from ethnic minority background • women	From the 2021 to 2022 baseline
DVSA will continue to support the Civil Service Strategy for increasing the number of apprentices in the Civil Service by setting a headcount target with a focus on recruiting apprentices	4% of headcount

A brilliant civil service

We will:

• support all colleagues to continue to develop the skills, knowledge and capabilities needed to deliver for our customers with confidence
• search out best practice and innovation so we can continuously improve our people-related processes
• support everyone to play a role in realising our aspirations of being a place where we are respected, valued, enabled, united, and future focused
• support our leaders to be confident in creating healthy, inclusive, and effective working environments for colleagues

Raising our profile as an attractive and diverse place to work

We will:

• work hard to attract and retain more people from the groups that are least well represented here, which are under-25s, people with disabilities, people from ethnic minority backgrounds and women
• ask our people and external experts to help us shape our employee value proposition (our offer), to attract and retain the best people to deliver our vision
• strive to be an inclusive employer and to promote equality of opportunity and diversity to ensure everyone feels they belong here at DVSA

Developing our skills

We will:

• continue to increase our digital, data and technology capability to ensure we provide excellent services and value for money
• continue to collaborate across government to ensure our shared service provision supports our colleagues and enables us to do our work effectively
• continue to widen our range of apprenticeship opportunities to support operational and transformation needs
• promote existing frameworks as development opportunities for established colleagues to support succession planning and build skills for the future

Wellbeing

We will:

• continue to invest and build on our leading-edge wellbeing package that supports all colleagues’ needs and improves our working environment. We will do this by expanding the network of wellbeing champions, mental health first aiders and signposting of other resources such as our Employee Assistance Program
• continue to go beyond legislative standards to protect and support the safety of colleagues, ensuring they are safe from inappropriate behaviour or abuse

Our partners

Performance measures

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
Prompt payment of invoices	Within 5 working days

Our data, technology and innovation

We will work with DVSA services to deliver what they need, provide the thinking and assurance of design to support developments and continuous improvements. In doing so DVSA is continuing to commit to embed the Cabinet Office Digital, Data and Technology Strategy and the Government Cyber Strategy through:

Mission 1 – Transformed public services that achieve the right outcomes

We already use cross functional teams in our deliveries and play an integral part in policy and service design. This year we will work with policy colleagues to support the increase of knowledge of Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) opportunities through delivery of digital immersion sessions to our policy teams, building communities of practice for policy, DDaT and service design functions across services.

Mission 2 – One login for government

In 2022, we joined the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) testing of one login, going live with one of the first government services to use this in December 2022. In 2023, we will harness this learning to carry out the necessary user research and develop our roadmap across all appropriate services.

Mission 3 – Better data to power decision making

We will work to align our data maturity assessments with CDDO and continue to identify and assess the value of DVSA data to inform prioritisation of investment. We will continue to support data sharing initiatives across Government.

Mission 4 – Secure, efficient and sustainable technology

In 23-24, we will complete our journey to remove all legacy systems from our estate. As we continue to develop our services, we are taking an enterprise approach to underlying technology and digital platforms, seeking and building re-usable components to support the ‘buy/build once, use many times’ approach. This is key to realising efficiencies across services and maximising resources between services and products. We continue to make improvements in our enterprise architecture capability to ensure ‘Secure by Design’ and ‘privacy by design’ elements are built into new components.

Mission 5 – Digital skills at scale

We are gathering the evidence for a business case for our DDaT and Security Capability Project that will offer great opportunities for our people to grow their skills. This will be aimed both at those already within DDaT and Security functions, providing greater opportunities to progress their careers, as well as colleagues in the wider business whose current roles required increased knowledge, skills and experience of data, digital tools and technological solutions. We are working closely with the wider DfT family on the next generation of roles, reward and career frameworks for DDaT and Security professionals.

Mission 6 – A system that unlocks digital transformation

In 2023-24, assessing ourselves against the digital, data and technology functional standard, along with the security functional standard we will invest in the skills required to ensure our digital, data, technology and security capability is aligned to our service structures, putting the right capabilities in the right place across our organisation.

Sustainability

Performance measures

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
DVSA will contribute towards the government’s aim of net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050 through the 2021 to 2025 Greening Government Commitments​	Third year contribution to governments Greening Government Commitments
Increase the number of roof-mounted solar panel installations by a further 60kWp over multiple sites, increasing our generating capacity and reducing our electricity costs	By March 2024

Our environmental sustainability

We’re working towards achieving net zero by 2040. This means that we will minimise our consumption and the resulting carbon dioxide equivalent we emit into the atmosphere. We will work with our partners and suppliers, using our position to align our supply-chain to also achieve this goal.

Carbon emission reduction and becoming net zero are part of our decision-making processes.

This year we will:

• publish our revised sustainable development strategy setting out our longer-term plans
• continue our decarbonisation progress at 3 driving test centres, by installing air-source heat pumps and mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) systems
• continue to reduce carbon emissions from our travel (which makes up half of all our emissions) by setting out a new travel policy for our colleagues
• increase our on-site renewables electricity generation by installing 60kWp roof-mounted solar panels
• continue working towards the Government Fleet Commitment (GFC) target of 100% zero emission fleet vehicles (ZEVs) by 2027 (we achieved our commitment for 25% of our fleet to be ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) by end-2022)

Our finances

Performance measure

Measure	Target for 2023 to 2024
Deliver against our efficiency plan	£10.6 million

We have continued to deliver against our efficiency plan delivering savings through rationalisation of our estate and better use of resources. We have prioritised our investments through our Investment and Change Committee to support projects that deliver benefits to our customers and efficiency for DVSA. Work has continued to ensure that our fees will reflect the cost of delivering an excellent service that meets the needs of our customers.

We have built on our financial reporting capability and responded to customer needs for high quality financial information and analysis. This has supported improvements in budgeting, forecasting and understanding of risks. This allows us to make informed and value for money decisions at the right time.

We will build on this in 2023-24 by:

• delivering the committed efficiency savings plan
• progressing a fees strategy to ensure that we meet the requirement to match our fees with the costs of delivering an excellent service
• ensuring a benefits-led investment programme prioritising within agreed funding
• supporting our people to deliver financially well-informed decisions,
• developing our reporting to support service-based decision making
• ensuring we comply with best practice functional standards providing a stable basis for assurance, risk management and capability improvement

Commercial delivery

The Commercial team will continue to drive consistency in the planning, management and execution of our commercial activities. We will ensure that contracts and relationships with suppliers provide value for money and result in the delivery of high-quality services to our customers.

To deliver successful outcomes, we will:

• achieve maximum value from every commercial relationship to support our strategic plan
• secure a 2% commercial saving on 2023-24 contract values, delivering our services more efficiently and improving our customers’ experience
• continue to support the Commercial Continuous Improvement Assessment Framework standards are part of our wider work on commercial culture and continuous improvement
• continue to buy more sustainable and efficient products and services with the aim of achieving the best long-term, overall value for money for society
• continue to support social value through our commercial arrangements

Annex A

Annex A

Financial forecast	Business plan 2023 to 2024 (£’000)
Statutory fee income	(387,081)
Non-statutory income	(12,545)
Total income	(399,626)
Staff costs [footnote 1]	211,720
IT costs	46,856
Accommodation costs	41,641
Theory test charges	48,661
Depreciation	46,038
Other non-pay costs	53,204
Total expenditure	448,121
Net operating deficit	48,495
Net interest	9,386
Net deficit	57,881

Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) as voted in Parliament ^{[footnote 2]}

Resource DEL [footnote 3]	14,942
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME)	(50)
Total Resource and AME	14,892
Capital DEL	47,198

Income is displayed as a negative number (in brackets) and expenditure as a positive

1. Staff costs have been amended to reflect uplift in NI contributions and Pay award (due August 2022) to be held with DfT and released at Supplementary Estimate ↩

2. Supply Estimates are the means by which the Government seeks authority from Parliament for its own spending each year. DVSA are awaiting official delegation of control totals from DfT. ↩

3. Non-ringfenced RDEL only ↩