Examination of Witnesses (Questions 240-259)
MR STEPHEN
HICKEY, MISS
ROSEMARY THEW,
MR CLIVE
BENNETT, MR
PAUL MARKWICK
AND MR
STEPHEN TETLOW
8 FEBRUARY 2006
Q240 Clive Efford: Moving on, I am
conscious of time, the weigh in motion sensors, you said in a
recent interview that these could have a "dramatic effect"
on operations. Can you expand on that?
Mr Tetlow: Yes. We have been running
a trial on weigh in motion sensors embedded in the road coupled
to automatic number plate readers.
Q241 Chairman: What, on the way into
the centre, is that what you are saying, or just one on the main
road somewhere?
Mr Tetlow: It is actually embedded
in the road. A lorry drives underneath a gantry, we know what
the axle weight is on that vehicle. There is a camera on the gantry
which checks the number plate of the vehicle against the database
of what the maximum loading on the axle should be. We can tell,
within an instant, whether that vehicle is operating legally or
illegally it looks like with about 90% accuracy. If we then use
that information to stop the vehicle and take it to a weighbridge,
we can in fact take action against that vehicle if we need to
or what we can do, and what we are looking at doing, is if we
cannot stop the vehicle we can go and see the operator and get
the information.
Chairman: As long as you can identify
it.
Q242 Clive Efford: Why did you choose
to roll this out on the major routes in the South East?
Mr Tetlow: We are not just going
to do it in the South East but we thought that would be a good
place to start both because that is where we know a lot of our
target enforcement needs to be and also simply because of the
volume of traffic in the South East.
Q243 Clive Efford: Can you explain
to us how the points system for Vehicle Inspectorate officers
works?
Mr Tetlow: Are you referring to
our performance gain or the operation—
Q244 Clive Efford: I will tell you,
we have had evidence from Eurosun Coaches and they are concerned
that the points system means that the examiners are awarded very
few points for a driver prosecution but for an operator they get
a lot of points. I guess we could say "They would say that,
wouldn't they".
Mr Tetlow: I am reminded of a
phrase "They might say that". I think all I can comment
on that is that we did not devise the points system, it was done
by an independent consultant and approved by Audit and the Department.
Like any system it is bound to have slight vagaries but I believe
it to be intrinsically fair.
Q245 Clive Efford: You believe it
to be fair, you do not think it is skewed in favour of catching
operators rather than drivers?
Mr Tetlow: The onus on the safety
is on the operator as well as the driver.
Chairman: Because of the legal responsibilities.
Q246 Clive Efford: You do assess
the vehicle enforcement officers as well and monitor their performance
in relation to this?
Mr Tetlow: Yes, we do.
Q247 Clive Efford: Do vehicle enforcement
officers work a locality? What assurance is there for smaller,
local firms that are complaining about treatment from their officers
which means they will not be targeted as a consequence?
Mr Tetlow: We do monitor the performance
of each area. We try, as much as we can, to make sure that there
is a proper decent complaints system. We have made available to
the Confederation of Passenger Transport an anonymous complaints
system so that if someone does not want to make themselves known
they can talk to us.
Chairman: That is good. I want to come
on to the DSA finally, Mrs Ellman.
Q248 Mrs Ellman: In your memorandum
you say that your forecasts were not accurate, last year.
Miss Thew: Yes.
Q249 Mrs Ellman: Why is that? What
is the effect? You say it has affected the ability to provide
services.
Miss Thew: That is exactly right.
Demand for car practical tests has exceeded all our expectations,
in fact in 2002-03 it ran at 1.4 million and 2006-07 we are anticipating
it is going to be 1.9 million. Last year we had a forecasting
tool which proved not to be accurate but this year we have invested
in better accuracy. In fact we have had the benefit of one of
our non-executive directors having a particular look at our forecasting
model. I still think there is a tremendous amount of work to be
done on this. It is very strange in the way that demand has shot
ahead. We have taken into account demography and we have taken
into account a lot of other factors but still we have been surprised
by the level of demand. That has caused us to run foul of the
six weeks' waiting time.
Q250 Mrs Ellman: Are you confident that
you will be able to run it this year?
Miss Thew: No, I do not think
I can say with confidence. We have done as much as we can to try
to see that next year's target is as good as we can make it but
I think there is still more for us to do.
Q251 Mrs Ellman: You seem to have
reduced some of your targets, for example answering telephone
calls, why is that?
Miss Thew: The targets for 2004-05?
Q252 Mrs Ellman: This is 2005-06.
Miss Thew: 2004-05 against 2005-06,
yes. We did not meet our targets in 2004-05 for service standards
in quite a lot of respects. The targets for 2005-06 were in fact
set before I joined the Agency. I am afraid I am not sure I can
comment on that.
Q253 Chairman: I think "not
me, guv", does not go down very well, Miss Thew.
Miss Thew: I fully accept that.
Q254 Chairman: You are going to go
away and do a bit of homework and give us a note. Okay?
Miss Thew: I certainly accept
that, Chairman. My point was really saying that I am not sure
why the targets were reduced. They were not met in 2004-05 and
I think it was probably a reflection of the fact they were not
met in 2004-05.
Chairman: We just need a little note
from you saying why.
Q255 Mrs Ellman: Sickness absence
was worse than anticipated?
Miss Thew: Sickness absence is
a very great deal of concern to me. Sickness absence is running
at very unacceptable levels.
Q256 Chairman: Why, do you think?
Miss Thew: I think there are a
whole lot of factors for this. What we have got in place is an
action plan which comprises about 16 points which is being implemented
at the moment. We have in particular to ensure that we are complying
properly with the processes. The processes are there, they are
sound but I am not sure whether or not there is full compliance.
There is an underlying factor in so far as driving examiners are
concerned, there have been incidents where driving examiners have
been involved in crashes and accidents and that has caused a slight
increase in the level of sickness.
Q257 Chairman: Presumably you could
have done a little disclaimer on the bottom of some of the information
you gave. If it was 11 days an employee and it is now 14.6 days,
that is nearly three weeks a year per person. It is pushing it
a bit.
Miss Thew: It is very, very worrying.
It is a real worry to me over the course of the time I have been
with the Agency. It is going to be something that I am taking
up with the management team at conferences that I am holding in
February and March. It is going to be a priority for everybody
within the Agency.
Q258 Mrs Ellman: You have changed
your contractor for theory tests.
Miss Thew: Yes.
Q259 Mrs Ellman: Why is that?
Miss Thew: We changed the contractor
for theory tests, it is now with Pearsons, because there were
some problems in delivery with the former contractor. I am pleased
to say that Pearsons are now meeting all of the service standards
that they were set.
| 
