Shapps pledges ‘to do whatever it takes to improve the DVLA’
THE UK Government will do “whatever it takes” including possible privatisation to improve the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.
He made the comment amid huge delays in processing driving licence applications.
The Cabinet minister told the Commons’ Transport Select Committee he and the Prime Minister will “look at everything”.
He said: “We’ll look at whether we can bring in private services to assist.
“I’ll look at the different motoring organisations. We have DVLA and DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency). It’s very confusing for most people. One does the licensing, the other one does the testing. People ask why there are two organisations. “I’ll look at all of these things. “No stone will be left unturned.” Mr Shapps said the backlog of driving licence applications has been cut from a peak of 1.2 million to 400,000 due to a series of measures.
He added that the delays “wouldn’t be there at all if it hadn’t been for an entirely unnecessary strike at DVLA”.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents workers at the DVLA’s offices in Swansea, conducted a series of strikes as part of a campaign for more coronavirus safety measures.
It came after Boris Johnson also refused to rule out privatisation of the Passport Office amid a huge backlog of applications.
Mr Johnson said the public deserves a “cheaper, faster” passport service.
In an interview with TalkTV, Mr Johnson said: “What I want is for it to deliver value for money and help people’s costs. If you want to go on holiday with your family it can cost hundreds of pounds to get new passports. You deserve to have a cheaper, faster service.”
The Prime Minister is understood to be “horrified” by the backlog in dealing with passport applications and will summon the agency’s leadership for urgent talks at No.10 today.
But ministers hope the 10-week target for passport applications will not need to be extended further.
Home Office Minister Kevin Foster said his advice remains unchanged and anyone heading overseas this summer should submit new passport applications and renewals as soon as possible.
But he added in the House of Commons: “We are making a range of efforts – staff are working weekends, incentivised overtime – and certainly we’re confident we will not need to change the 10-week target.”
MPs heard that HM Passport Office provides an expedited service where an application from the UK has been with them for longer than 10 weeks, with Mr Foster confirming 42 applications have been pushed through under this criterion since March 31.
A total of 9.5 million British passport applications are expected to be dealt with in 2022, with Covid restrictions on travel resulting in just four million applications in 2020 and five million in 2021 by comparison.
Labour urged ministers to “get a grip” rather than float the prospect of privatising HM Passport Office.
Mr Foster, responding to an urgent question from shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, said March saw
the “highest total for any month on moon may now be wrecked because record, with HM Passport Office comtheir passports haven’t arrived, even pleting the processing of over one though they applied in plenty of time. million applications – 13% higher We’ve had cases of people cancelling than the previous record output”. jobs, parents trying to get holiday for
He added that more than 90% of a sick child waiting since January, applications were issued within six huge long delays by the Passport weeks in the period between January Office and by the contractor TNT. and March, saying: “My advice to “The message today on the oneanyone who is looking to go on holiweek fast-track service says ‘System day this summer is exactly what I said busy, please try again later’, and the the other day, which is to get your online premium service has no application in now.” appointments anywhere in the coun
For Labour, Ms Coopertry.”warned:
“My constituents fear their honey- Ms Cooper said the increase in demand was “totally predictable”, adding the Home Office is “in danger of becoming a stay-at-Home-Office”.
She questioned if the government tried to recruit 1,700 staff but only got 500, adding: “The Prime Minister has said the answer may be to privatise the Passport Office, but why don’t Home Office ministers just get a grip instead?”
Conservative former minister David Jones pressed ministers to pursue privatisation as he told MPs about a Clwyd West constituent who hopes to go on holiday in May but whose passport application is currently stuck in limbo and who is finding it “almost impossible to speak to any representative of the Passport Office”.
Mr Jones said: “I heard this morning that the Prime Minister has threatened the Passport Office with privatisation. May I suggest to him that he shouldn’t shy away from that? If it can be done more efficiently by the private sector, then for goodness’ sake enlist the private sector.”
Mr Foster replied: “There is a range of private contractors already involved in the passport process. The bit that isn’t undertaken by private contractors is the decision itself.”
Conservative chairman of the Transport Committee Huw Merriman warned about the impact of the passport backlog on the economy.
He said: “The year before Covid, the aviation industry contributed £22bn to the UK economy, £3.6bn to the Exchequer from air passenger duty, and it’s expected to be at 70% demand this summer, so we can’t put this at risk for the sake of our economy.”
In response to the criticism, a spokesman for HM Passport Office said: “Since April 2021 we have been advising people to allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their British passport as more than five million people delayed applying due to the pandemic.
“We urge people who need a new passport to apply for one as soon as possible, with the vast majority of all passport applications being dealt with well within 10 weeks.
“To deal with this demand, we have increased staff numbers by 500 since April 2021. This has helped us to handle more applications than ever before”
Heathrow Airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye said it was “vital” that people could go on holiday this summer in case the UK reintroduced coronavirus travel restrictions.
The PCS union condemned the Prime Minister’s suggestion that HM Passport Office could be privatised.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said: “It is absurd for Boris Johnson to threaten to privatise HMPO, when it is clear that the current problems are mainly down to the casualisation of the workforce.”
For Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It’s disgraceful that families are having to cancel. Home Office ministers were warned months ago that they needed to prepare for an increase in demand after Covid, but they have failed to do so.”