Chief Executive message

I am pleased and proud to be in a position to report such good progress made during 2010-11 for the many and varied interests that this Agency serves.

For the second year running we achieved or bettered every one of the 19 service delivery standards and eight customer promises. The records of 42 million drivers and 36 million vehicles that we hold and update, underpin the safe and orderly use of the road network that is vital for millions of journeys every day. The 200 million contacts with customers that our staff and systems handle each year are fundamental to this. We collect more than £5.7 billion of Vehicle Excise Duty on behalf of Simon Tse Accounting Officer and Chief Executive DVLA

Simon Tse Accounting Officer and Chief Executive DVLA

government effectively, with over 99 per cent compliance and efficiently with costs that decrease year-on-year in real terms. All in all 2010-11 was another year that the Agency delivered across the range of interests we serve.

During the year we continued our step by step overhaul of how we operate to maintain our position at the leading edge of public sector efficiency and electronic service delivery. We completed the build of the system that will allow us, alongside insurance companies, to enforce insurance evasion electronically and further protect road users.

These accounts show we have continued to reduce our operating costs significantly, exceeding our three year (Comprehensive Spending Review 2007) efficiency target of £80.7 million by delivering £98.2 million. This transformed our Business Plan 2010-11 forecast surplus of £1.7 million into a surplus of £24 million, even after we continued with our re-investment in our information systems as planned. We have set ourselves a target of reducing DVLA operating costs by £100 million (by the end of the financial year 2014-15) compared to the baseline costs and activities within the Business Plan 2010-11. We have identified savings of £21.3 million, an excellent contribution and start towards our target.

Finally, I am delighted to have been confirmed in my role as Chief Executive and look forward to continue to lead this Agency, with its hard working and dedicated staff, into a challenging period ahead. We will continue on our journey to become even more efficient but still deliver high quality services to our customers and data users. We see these two objectives as complementary rather than competing, as we offer more electronic transactions and overhaul our service delivery through increasing our collaboration with other organisations.