3 Enhancing the provision of electronic
licensing to the public
18. Electronic relicensing for fleet operators was
introduced by the Agency in 1994 and motor dealers have been able
to license new vehicles on their first registration since 1997.[46]
Electronic services for the individual motorist have not been
addressed, except for a telephone relicensing scheme which has
not expanded beyond its pilot stage.[47]
The Agency argued that the results of customer surveys show that
the public like to use the Post Office to relicense their vehicles.[48]
In any comparison with other government organisations that transact
directly with the public on a large scale, the Agency is well
behind in broadening customer choice through the introduction
of electronic arrangements for the public to conduct its business.[49]
19. The Agency accepted that it should make available
a wider range of choices of payment channels.[50]
The introduction of Electronic Vehicle Licensing (EVL) from February
2004 will start to address the issue, but in the first phase will
only be available to customers who do not need to produce a valid
MOT for the vehicle being relicensed. Later in 2004, this service
will be expanded to deal with transactions for cars that do require
an MOT.[51]
20. The earlier introduction of EVL for the public
had been hampered by difficulties surrounding charges for the
use of credit and debit cards. The Agency has no statutory permission
to hypothecate any of the revenue collected to cover the transaction
costs levied by card companies and it was unsuccessful in getting
this matter addressed in either of the last two Finance Bills.[52]
The Agency has not acted with sufficient urgency or done all that
it could to open up electronic transaction channels for the motoring
public.
21. The Agency's targets are to conduct 23% of the
public's relicensing transactions by electronic channels by 2006
and to have increased this to 37% by 2016. The Agency recognises
fully that some members of the public will always prefer a face-to-face
service and it is committed to retaining this type of service
alongside its electronic channels.[53]
46 C&AG's Report, para 13 and Figure 2 Back
47
ibid, para 18 Back
48
Qq 3-4, 114 Back
49
Qq 105-114 Back
50
Q 105 Back
51
C&AG's Report, para 18; Qq 2-4, 114 Back
52
Q 107 Back
53
Qq 4, 114 Back
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