Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): I welcome Jeremy Logan, the chief executive of the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA); Pat Delaney, director of operations; and Jonathan Furphy, director of compliance, enforcement and licensing.

Are members content that the evidence is recorded by Hansard?

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): Apologies, gentlemen, for keeping you waiting. Obviously, our time has run over, but we are very keen to hear from you about the business plan. I will give you five minutes for brief opening remarks. I will interject after that because I am keen to get to members' questions, if that is OK. We have some of the information on the business plan in our papers. I will let you talk now.

Mr Jeremy Logan (Driver and Vehicle Agency): Thanks, Chair. I will keep this very brief. Thank you for the invitation to come to the Committee today to provide an update on DVA services. The Committee was sent an update on our quarter 3 progress against our business plan targets, and I will draw out a few key highlights.

Our business plan focuses on three priorities: our services, our infrastructure and assets, and our organisation. In the quarter 3 update, we reported that 12 of 14 targets were on track to be achieved. That remains the position at year end, subject to validation by internal audit. In 2024-25, we conducted more than 1·16 million vehicle tests, which is the highest number that we have ever recorded. During that period, the average waiting time for an MOT reduced from 100 days to around 30 days, set against a business plan target of six weeks or 42 days. Those positive statistics have been achieved by adopting a range of measures, including the recruitment of additional vehicle examiners, the use of overtime to provide cover for leave and offering vehicle test appointments on Sundays and bank holidays when testing is not normally available. We also increased productivity by adding an extra test to each examiner's daily work programme. There were only six days in 2024 on which MOT appointments were not offered.

The introduction of temporary exemption certificates (TECs) for five and seven-year old cars within specified date ranges has helped to keep the demand for MOT tests at a manageable level. You will be aware that the Minister recently agreed to extend the use of temporary exemption certificates for a further year to help keep MOT waiting times in check until our new test centres at Hydebank and Mallusk open for vehicle testing. In 2025, we conducted 68,700 driving tests, which is the highest number that we have recorded since 2009. That has helped to reduce waiting times to approximately 20 days. Our driver licensing, commercial licensing and enforcement functions have all performed well, and we are reporting the achievement of the related business plan targets in those areas. From an infrastructure perspective, the construction of a second test centre at Mallusk commenced in July 2024. That is programmed to be completed later this year. Our business improvement programme for 2024-25 was successfully delivered, further developing our IT systems and modernising our customer-facing services to make it as easy and straightforward as possible for customers to interact with us.

The only two targets that we are reporting as not being achieved are the two financial targets that relate to the agency's trading fund. That is primarily due to the removal of our resource subsidy to help the Department manage its resource budget shortfall. We are reporting a deficit of circa £1 million.

We are happy to take any questions that you might have.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): Thank you very much, Jeremy. Pat, you were not in the room when we welcomed you to the Committee, but you are very welcome today as well.

Mr Pat Delaney (Driver and Vehicle Agency): Thank you very much, Chair.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): You said in your oral evidence that the Minister is keeping the TECs — I declare an interest as someone whose car is in that bracket — in check until the new test centres are up and running. We have seen that there was delay and backlog in the system. Have the TECs been fundamental to the decision-making, particularly when the new test centres are not online?

Mr Logan: Yes. The TECs have been a key factor in our efforts to keep the MOT situation manageable. That has aligned with our other efforts to keep vehicle testing capacity at a high level and deliver as many vehicle tests as possible. As I said, this year we have delivered our highest ever number of tests. Without the TECs, waiting times would be much longer than they are at the minute. The TECs have helped to bring waiting times down from 100 days to 30 days in the past 12 months.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): There has been a consultation on biennial testing. Are the TECs delivering biennial testing through the back door? They have worked in that they have brought down the backlog in the system. Going forward, do you think that that is workable and manageable?

Mr Logan: The Department is conducting a consultation on biennial testing, which closed for responses on 16 April. I expect that the Committee will be updated on the synopsis of the responses from that. As you pointed out, the TECs were introduced due to the delays to the opening of Hydebank test centre, which will have a capacity of at least 100,000 vehicle tests per year. That was done in acknowledgement of the fact that, until that test centre opens, there will be additional pressure on our testing services.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): Target 9 relates to the test centre at Mallusk. Construction on that commenced in July 2024. When do you anticipate completion of the Mallusk test centre?

Mr Logan: I am pleased to report that its construction is going very well and according to programme. We anticipate that the construction contract will conclude around October of this year. There is the potential for some delays, but it is going according to programme, and we expect construction to be completed in the autumn.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): That will add around 100,000 to the capacity.

Mr Logan: Yes. It will be of a similar size to the Hydebank test centre. In fact, it will be slightly bigger as it will have two heavy goods vehicle testing lanes. It will have a vehicle testing capacity similar to that of Hydebank.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): On the financial targets, you reported that there is a deficit of £1 million. I am thinking about the cost of the overtime for the extra testing capacity that DVA has made available. Is the £1 million deficit the result of overtime payments and things like that?

Mr Logan: The primary reason why we are in deficit is the removal of resource subsidy funding from the Department for 2024-25. That subsidy funded areas in which we do not charge fees, such as our enforcement functions and some elements of driver licensing, including medical assessments. There is an additional cost for offering overtime at weekends and providing the necessary service and support to keep our test centres open, but that is not a major factor in the deficit.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): Will you have to revisit the position on overtime because of the deficit?

Mr Logan: We keep a very close eye on the overtime position as we try to manage our waiting times. As we have said before, and as Committee members have asked, how sustainable is it to keep test centres open on Sundays and bank holidays given the impact on staff? We would like to get back to our normal operating template, which is six days a week, Monday to Saturday. We will continue to monitor the situation closely in the months ahead.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): Do you envisage getting back to the normal way of operating, which is six days a week? Once the new test centres are up and going, will they help you return to that normal operating model?

Mr Logan: The desire is certainly to get back to that normal operating time. The infrastructure capacity of those test centres will help us to achieve that aim, but there are other factors, including the recruitment of additional vehicle examiners. We are about to begin another recruitment competition for vehicle examiners on, I think —

Mr Delaney: Next Monday.

Mr Logan: — Monday. There are different factors that affect how many tests we can conduct, and the people element is a significant one.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): The last time that you were before the Committee, you were, or were going to, recruiting. What success did that recruitment campaign have?

Mr Logan: Yes. Pat can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that we brought in 35 vehicle examiners through that competition. The list from that competition has been exhausted. We and the Department have prioritised the vehicle examiner competition in this quarter. As Pat said, that will be advertised next week.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): I will go to members.

Mr K Buchanan: Thanks, gentlemen, for coming along. I have a couple of quick questions. If the temporary exemption certificates were done away with tomorrow, would the Hydebank and Mallusk centres, when operational, cover the extra tests to prevent your waiting times slipping? Do you know where I am coming from? In other words, will the two new facilities cover what, currently, you are not doing now because of the TECs?

Mr Delaney: Provided that we have the resource.

Mr Logan: Provided that we have the people resource to test —.

Mr K Buchanan: The facility will cover that, but it is the bodies —.

Mr Logan: The infrastructure capacity would be there.

Mr K Buchanan: We talked about Mallusk. When did you say that that would be completed, roughly? October?

Mr Logan: The construction of the Mallusk facility is due to be competed in the autumn.

Mr K Buchanan: Are the facilities that are currently operating manned — if that is the right terminology — all the time? Are all the lanes at full staffing capacity? Is staffing an issue?

Mr Logan: I will hand over to Pat for that one.

Mr Delaney: The test centres operate at 100% of their resource each day, but we are recruiting for additional resource because of the vacancies that exist in each of our test centres as a result of retirements and people leaving for more attractive jobs. They are running at 100%, as best as we can manage them.

Mr K Buchanan: If the staff are there.

Mr Delaney: If the staff are there.

Mr K Buchanan: Taking account of sickness and other factors, what is your average percentage? You are not going to be at 100% every day.

Mr Delaney: We are running at 100% for the staff who are there. Every vehicle examiner has a full work programme each day, and we increased that work programme by one vehicle per person in September last year. Sickness absence differs from test centre to test centre — some are better than others — and you cannot predict that. I would need to check, but, from memory, our test centres are running with a sickness absence rate of something like 8%. We have a vacancy level as well. In addition, we carry extra resource — a spare man, to use your terminology — in test centres and revert to using it. That spare man is there so that we have the resource to allocate to a lane if somebody reports in sick so that the customer is not impacted.

Mr K Buchanan: Are all of the operating test centres running at 100%? Forget about whether people are there. Is your output 100%? I appreciate that a vehicle might not turn up, for example, but are your test centres operating at 100%?

Mr Delaney: Our test centres are operating at 100% for all the resource that is in those test centres on that day to deliver testing.

Mr K Buchanan: If the resource is there.

Mr Delaney: Yes.

Mr K Buchanan: Is it there?

Mr Delaney: In some cases, it is not, because we are carrying a vacancy. However, when we determine what 100% is, is it 100% on availability? Are we using our resource as best we can?

Mr K Buchanan: I am confused by that. Maybe it is just me. If I was to look back at the past month, for example, would I see that the test centres are operating at 100%?

Mr Delaney: Yes, of the resource that is there.

Mr K Buchanan: OK, thank you.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): Does anybody else want to come in? I want to go back to something. You are recruiting more people. I do not want to pre-empt anything that might come out of the consultation on biennial testing, because we do not know what the outcome of that will be, but are we putting the cart before the horse? We are recruiting, but if we go to biennial testing will we need those staff? We may be moving to biennial testing.

Mr Logan: That is a valid question. We are carrying vacancies across our network, in most of our test centres. Biennial testing will depend on the outcome of the consultation and decisions by the Minister. It would take a considerable amount of time for a biennial testing regime to be implemented. We are losing staff through natural wastage — people retiring or leaving to go to other jobs — so I do not think that the recruitment will be a problem. We got 35 examiners in the previous competition, for example. If we get a similar number in this competition, we will be able to manage that resource across the network for the foreseeable future. That will not be a big problem.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): How many vacancies do you have?

Mr Logan: I will have to check. We have something like 28 vacancies. However, as part of the process, we also need to consider the position with the Hydebank test centre, when it opens, and filling those vacancies.

Mr Delaney: We also need to consider the supply position going forward, as we will lose staff as a result of retirement or for other reasons. Biennial testing would require a change to primary legislation, which could take two to three years. We would need to resource the network for that time until the primary legislation comes in. We are working on what we know, which is that there is annual testing not biennial testing.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): Target 7 is about DVA's performance on responding to customer complaints. Your target is to respond to 97% of stage-1 and stage-2 complaints within a set time period, and your performance at the end of quarter 3 was 99·7% and 100% respectively. How many complaints does DVA receive each year?

Mr Logan: We publish an annual complaints report. From memory, I think that there were 872 complaints last year and a similar number the year before. This year, the number is slightly down. We have a two-stage complaints process. Initially, complaints are dealt with in the relevant business area, and the stage-2 complaints are all signed off by me, as the chief executive. If the complainant is unhappy with the response that they receive at stage 2, they can go to the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman.

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): What is the nature of those complaints?

Mr Logan: They cover a variety of things, such as a customer not being happy with the outcome of a driving test or vehicle test result, delays in the licensing process, or the attitude and behaviours of some of our examiners. There is a range. As I said, that is all broken down in the annual complaints report, which is published and available for the Committee to view.

Mr Dunne: Thanks for the presentation. It is good news that, after a few difficult years, it is an easier experience for all of us and our constituents to book an MOT.

"Sticking plaster" is probably an unfair term to use to describe TECs. They are more of a short-term measure, albeit a positive and effective one. The consultation mentioned that a car needs to be four years old before it has its first test. In GB, the time period is three years. Is there any merit in looking at increasing that to five years, given that some of the cars that are benefiting from TECs can be six or seven years old?

Mr Logan: Again, that is a matter for the Department. There may well be some comments in that space in the consultation. The consultation responses will be pulled together, and a synopsis report will be provided for the Minister's consideration. I assume that that will then be shared with the Committee. There are a number of options, but the minimum requirement in the directive is for a car to have its first test at four years old. That is set down.

Mr Dunne: Is there any evidence that road safety has been compromised by the use of TECs?

Mr Logan: Not that I am aware of. The vehicles that we specified for those TECs were carefully considered. They are newer vehicles. If they are properly maintained, they should not present any road safety issues.

Mr Dunne: The plan is to do away with TECs once the two centres open. Is that correct?

Mr Logan: We will carefully monitor the position. The centres will give us the infrastructure capacity to test vehicles. We will then have to look at our staffing capacity through our recruitment competitions. However, you are right: TECs are temporary by their nature. Hopefully, we will remove them and get back to our normal annual testing regime until any decisions are made on the way forward around biennial testing.

Mr Dunne: Thanks for that. It is good news that it is easier to get a date. Even the experience is easier for people now that your staff take the vehicle right from the start, rather than at the midway point, which was challenging for some people who did not enjoy the experience. That is good work too.

Mr Delaney: Some of our customers felt as though they, rather than the car, were the ones who were being tested.

Mr Dunne: Yes. It was worse than going to the dentist. [Laughter.]

The Chairperson (Mrs Erskine): No one else has indicated that they want to ask a question on the business plan, so thank you.