Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Telephone
Fax
Mr James Collins
Textphone
Email
[FOI #8066 email]
Website
www.direct.gov.uk/motoring
Your Ref
Our Ref
FOIR 1396/09
Date:
12 March 2009
Dear Mr Collins
Information Request
Thank you for your e-mail of 12 February, requesting information relating to the receipt and
handling of mail delivered to DVLA. I am dealing with your request for information under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The first four questions you asked regarding items of mail lost internally at DVLA were as
follows:
1. “How many Special delivery items not including SORN declarations have been lost
internally after being signed for by a DVLA post room”?
2. “How many Recorded delivery items not including SORN declarations have been lost
internally after being signed for by a DVLA post room”?
3. “How many regular delivery (1st/2nd class) items not including SORN declarations have
been lost internally after being accepted by a DVLA post room”?
4. “How many SORN declarations sent by Recorded or Special delivery have been lost
internally after being signed for by a DVLA post room”?
The information requested on all of the above is not held at the Agency. It may help if I
explain that DVLA continues to look at ways to prevent documents becoming mislaid on
receipt in the Agency. In this regard, the Agency is undergoing a large programme of work
that entails managing operational documents through the capture of electronic images linked
to specific business systems or linked more permanently to casework records or invoicing
records.
Multiple handling of documents will be replaced by automated processes to capture, deliver
and archive documents in one pass and subsequent movement of documents will be achieved
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economically by electronic means. Limiting human intervention to mail receipt/scanning
areas will greatly reduce the time spent, and the number of people involved, in transporting
documents within DVLA. The likelihood of losses caused by manual handling and
transportation of documents will be minimised. Any errors that may be caused by such losses
will also be reduced as a result. The ongoing programme of work will provide DVLA with a
state-of-the-art information capture and document archiving system to meet current and
future business needs.
Your last request was as follows:
5. “How many SORN declarations sent by standard mail services have DVLA refuted
service of”?
Again, the Agency does not hold statistics for this information. However, figures are
available for the number of official complaints received from vehicle keepers who claim to
have sent their SORN declarations to the Agency but have not received any
acknowledgement of receipt.
I can confirm that between 01/07/2007 and 28/02 2009 the DVLA received 91 complaints of
this nature. Statistics before July 2007 are not held.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-
commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use,
for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
Most documents supplied by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will have been
produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the
arrangements for re-using Crown copyright on the Office of Public Sector Information
website at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm.
If you are unhappy with the way the DVLA has handled your request, you may write to Mr
Leon Barrow, Central Operations Directorate, CS-V, D4 or by e-mail for an internal review.
The email address is [DVLA request email]. Please remember to quote the reference above in
future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
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Yours sincerely
Sent unsigned via email
Richard Batchelor
Operations Manager
D1
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