I COMMENT OPEN ALL HOURS
Page 3
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• It must come as a relief to most of the road transport world that the Vehicle Inspectorate is not to be privatised, but is to become an agency under the wing of the Department of Transport. It will also come as a relief that the visible changes to the Inspectorate are likely to be positive ones, such as the provision of weekend testing — albeit at an as-yet-undisclosed price. It certainly makes sense that an organisation like the Vehicle Inspectorate should have its own, accountable management rather than being the direct responsibility of a minister who cannot be expected to have anything more than a general overview of its operations and problems.
What is not so reassuring is that the minister, in distancing himself from the day-to-day operation of the Inspectorate, has not distanced himself from setting financial targets which impose cost-savings in parallel with improved services. Considering the severe cost restraints already hampering the activities of inspectors (as we have frequently reported), such targets can only imply an increase in costs to the user — and that means the transport operator.
The first government service to be turned into an agency has not been given an easy task. There is more to efficiency than cutting costs or raising prices, especially when the real aim of the Inspectorate must be to perform an ever-better job of monitoring the health of the country's goods vehicles.