---

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency

I would like to inform the House about the future of testing services provided by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) of the Department for Transport. VOSA plays a key role in the delivery of the Government's road safety strategy through a combination of tests and enforcement to ensure that heavy goods vehicles and public service vehicles and their drivers comply with EU and national standards. The Government have already announced (Official Report, 22 April 2008, column 1893W) an additional £24 million funding for enforcement, over three years, to boost VOSA's efforts to crack down on those who fail to comply with these standards, following successful pilots which demonstrated what could be achieved by more focused and targeted enforcement activity. I am announcing today parallel improvements in the agency's testing services, which are broadly equivalent to the MOT requirement for cars—and equally vital to road safety—based around modernisation and flexibility. The aim is to improve access to good quality test centres, and reduce the time when vehicles are unavailable, so that the industry is helped to comply with road safety laws and operate more efficiently. Operators can currently choose between presenting vehicles for testing at VOSA stations or—in nearly 20 per cent. of cases—arranging for VOSA staff to deliver the tests at operators' own premises, where vehicles are maintained and run. The current structure of fees incentivises the use of VOSA premises, but the location of these predates the motorways, and many are no longer in the right place for customers. Most are also in need of investment. My aim is to make both sides of this choice for customers better. First, I want to facilitate more VOSA tests at operators' premises, and at more convenient times. This is a proven model of delivery, with recognised benefits in terms of reduced loss of productive time, and I believe industry will welcome removing constraints on its expansion. I also want to facilitate more VOSA tests at service and maintenance providers' premises, to improve quality of service and choice. Secondly, for VOSA's own testing stations, the principle must be 'fewer, but better'. I aim quickly to identify those sites for which there is a continuing requirement, so that we can get on with investing and upgrading the service that they can provide. To this end, I am making £28 million available to the agency this year, the greater part of which will go towards modernisation of testing facilities and IT support, and I can announce that up to a further £36 million will be available over the next two years to support the agency's investment requirements. Upgrading customer service is not just a matter of improving facilities. Work by the agency has also identified the scope for improving the way in which business is done, for example by extending opening hours and benchmarking between test stations. I intend to increase choice for customers not just about where testing is done, but also when. Customers should be more able to access testing at times that provide least disruption to the commercial scheduling of their vehicles. My purpose in making this statement has been firstly to resolve the uncertainty that has existed about VOSA's future while different organisational options were being reviewed. With that work now completed, I see a clear agenda to be taken forward by a public sector VOSA. There will be call on private sector skills to help with specialised tasks like estate refurbishment, but I am confident that the main changes are ones that VOSA has the flexibility and commitment to drive through. Having set out a clear direction, it is important now to have dialogue with the freight industry and others about the detailed implementation. The intention is to develop a more detailed and timetabled plan for these changes by the autumn, and I will invite industry views in taking that work forward. My aim, which is fully shared by the dedicated staff of the agency, is to create a testing service fit for the 21st century. Building on VOSA's undoubted strengths, we will improve customer service, optimise delivery by investment and increasing flexibility, and so achieve better testing and lower costs of compliance.