Road safety: keep it public and give it the resources it needs

On 3 July 2008, the government announced that the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) - one of the key organisations responsible for road safety in the UK - would remain in the public sector.

Prospect is delighted at this outcome. The union has campaigned strongly against the privatisation threat that hung over VOSA for three years, arguing that it could affect our already-grim road safety statistics. More than 34,000 road users were killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads in 2004 - 2,339 of them were child pedestrians. Of the 3,221 killed, 671 were pedestrians, 585 were motor cyclists and 134 were pedal cyclists.

The statistics make grim reading, and Prospect feared they would get worse, not better, if VOSA privatised key areas of its work.

VOSA is responsible for:

• enforcing the law on vehicles to ensure that they comply with legal standards and regulations

• operating and administering testing schemes for all vehicles, including supervising the MOT testing scheme

• processing applications for licences to operate lorries and buses and registering bus services

• enforcing drivers' hours and licensing requirements

• supporting Traffic Commissioners to help them make informed decisions on operator licensing, vocational drivers and bus registration requirements

• providing training and advice for commercial operators

• investigating vehicle accidents, defects and recalls.

The threat of privatisation

In November 2005, ministers at the Department for Transport told VOSA's chief executive Stephen Tetlow to look at outsourcing some of VOSA's functions. In May 2006, Tetlow told staff that the agency had conducted a "small MORI poll" to seek the views of its customers.

The poll suggested that there may be potential to outsource training services, operator licensing administration, lorry and bus testing, prosecution and legal services, some of its admin and support services and estates rationalisation. The review identified potential efficiencies of £30m.

Yet VOSA itself estimates that one major incident avoided through increased enforcement would save £1m of delay costs. And about 50 per cent of critical incidents could be addressed through VOSA inspections (side swipes, insecure loads and tiredness).

Management consultants are now examining each of VOSA's core activities in detail and the agency expects to make recommendations by January 2007.

Concern for public safety

Tetlow said the agency would only consider outsourcing if it delivers better value for money at less cost to its customers; improves customer service; lightens the regulatory burden and contributes to wider government objectives. Why doesn't public safety feature in this list?

VOSA's work

VOSA's 2,700 staff - which includes those in admin and support - across England, Scotland and Wales have their work cut out. With 434,000 goods vehicles (190,100 of them between 20 and 38 tonnes) and 100,000 public transport vehicles licensed in 2004, that equates to 197 vehicles each or, with 100 goods vehicle testing stations across the UK, 5,340 per station. That, of course, does not include more than 28 million private cars and other vehicles.

Brake efficiency and braking systems are among the top three failure defects on the annual inspection - 21 per cent in light vehicles and vans; 10 per cent in heavy vehicles and nearly 30 per cent in trailers.

VOSA staff work in six traffic area offices, 100 goods vehicle testing stations, 23 enforcement offices and further offices around the UK.

The MORI poll also said lorry and bus testing is a service "that should ideally be provided by VOSA, but may be acceptable if provided by another organisation". The unions say merely "acceptable" is not good enough when the lives of our families are at risk.

Killer facts and figures about road safety.