E-services save driver agencies £33 million

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The use of the internet and telephone systems has boosted accessibility to services provided by government driver agencies - and saved over £30 million last year, according a report by the

National Audit Office (NAO).

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Driving Standards Agency, and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency have made certain services accessible via the internet, telephone or through business to business computer systems, for some 42 million drivers across Great Britain.

Unsurprisingly, such e-services were found to boost accessibility and provide long-term cost savings, the report found.

"Bringing services online can save money and raise the quality of the service received. I am pleased to see that, by following good practice, the agencies have improved the service they offer drivers," said John Bourn, the head of the NAO.

Last year, the agencies saw some 50 million electronic transactions for the 15 services available online or through business computer connections, which include booking driving tests, taking theory tests and buying car tax. The report said keeping customers off paper has lead to savings of £33 million last year.

According to the report, all the services the NAO examined had high customer satisfaction - 93 per cent of car tax buyers, 88 per cent of licence candidates and 97 per cent of test takers said they were satisfied with the e-services.

While the report was generally positive, there were some downsides. The system to apply for a provisional driving licence online has had trouble, with 90 per cent of users unable to finish the transaction. One possible reason is because many applicants are teenagers without a credit record or digital passport, needed to confirm identity. However, moving their online applications to paper costs £1 more than if the whole process had been done by paper, the report found.

And despite strong uptake, the report called on the Department for Transport to encourage even better rates of use to further cut costs. Bourn said: "There is scope for improvement, and I would urge the department to continue to evaluate current pilots and investigate ways of using the technology to further improve the services offered."

At the end of last year, the DVLA came under fire after admitting a data breach which saw three million records go missing.

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