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IS The Vehicle Inspectorate, including its commercial vehicle testing stations, is to be the first Government department to be hived off and operated as an "executive agency".
From 1 August ministers and the Department of Transport will no longer be responsible for the Inspectorate. Although it will remain part of the DTP and ministers will continue to deal with policy, it will be run in a more "business-like way to mirror as closely as possible the financial disciplines of a private-sector business," says Transpoft Secretary Paul Channon.
The Vehicle Inspectorate employs 1,600 people, has a network of 91 vehicle testing stations, and carries out a total of a million HGV and trailer tests and 80,000 bus and coach tests a year.
Ron Oliver, the current head of the Inspectorate, has been named the agency's first chief executive.
He says plans for the VI include out-of-hours testing for customers, and the Inspectorate's training school and roller brake testers will be made available for outside testing and training — but he warned: "Customers would have to be prepared to pay for these extra facilities."
Channon has told the Inspectorate to cut costs by 3.7% between 1 April 1989 and 31 March 1991.
A performance-related pay scheme will be introduced for staff at the VI, and Oliver will be paid a bonus in addition to his salary if his performance meets cost efficiency targets. Channon says he believes that HGV test fees will remain lower with this new scheme than under the old system.
Channon also says that more agencies will be created: "We continue to work towards establishing the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Directorate as an executive agency.
"I have also commissioned feasibility studies and proposals on the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, driver testing and training organisations and the Vehicle Component Approvals division," says the Transport Secretary.
Both the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association have said the proposals will be good if they promote efficiency and road safety — but the FTA warns it will be pressing the DTp for more details on incentive pay to ensure this will not relate to the number of vehicles failed.
At question time in the Commons, Channon told MPs he had "no plans whatever" to privatise the Inspectorate. Haulage industry opposition meant that total privatisation was out of the question.
0 The Civil and Public Services Association has reacted angrily to the Government's plans for the Vehicle Inspectorate.
The CPSA, which has an estimated 400 members working in the VI, says it feels frustrated and upset. "No negotiations have taken place between us and the Department of Transport," it says, "We are worried that performancerelated pay might undermine our national pay settlement."
The Department of Transport says that the idea of performance-related pay is only in the planning stage and promises to approach the unions soon.