Speeches

John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the costs and benefits of ending the paper vehicle tax disc.

Andrew Jones

The changes to the administration of vehicle excise duty are expected to save the public purse £13.8m per year. These savings are made up of the elements shown in the table below:

No longer having to print or store tax discs.

£1.3m pa

No longer having to post tax discs to customers.

£7.9m pa

No longer having to process applications for vehicle excise duty refunds (which are now paid automatically without the need for an application) or handle enquiries about lost or missing tax discs.

£1.2m pa

Reduction in Post Office Ltd costs as they no longer issue paper tax discs, but offer an assisted digital service instead.

£3.4m pa

Business will also save an estimated £8.6m per year from the changes. The savings arise from leasing companies no longer having to post tax discs to customers or businesses having to apply for refunds of vehicle excise duty and paying to replace lost or stolen tax discs.

There are also one-off costs of £5.7m made up of the elements shown in the table below:

DVLA IT and systems changes/updates,

£4m

Familiarisation costs to the General Public and Business in understanding the changes

£1.7m