DVLA could be scrapped in Andy Burnham 10-year plan

In 2025, Sir Keir Starmer announced a massive review of quangos, including the abolition of the “world’s largest” arm’s-length body, NHS England.

Labour is said to be considering merging the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which manages driving tests and MOTs, according to The Telegraph.

Mr Burnham has pushed his so-called devolution agenda in No10 to give more powers to Britain’s regional mayors.

Both of the departments have been criticised for failings.

The DVSA has been slammed for repeated delays at driving test centres, with an average British driver waiting over 19 weeks for a test.

Waiting times fell in September, however, and the department has insisted it was making “real progress” for aspiring drivers.

The DVLA has also regularly missed its target of clearing people as medically fit to drive within 50 days.

Officials have also been re-examining the abolition of NHS England.

The plan to scrap the world’s largest quango was announced last year by Wes Streeting, in a move the Government said would “reduce complex bureaucracy”.

But the initial plan to fold the agency’s staff into the civil service fell apart because NHS managers earn more than their Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) counterparts.

Instead, the Government established a new quango, allowing NHS England staff to remain on their current contracts.

Another source told the newspaper that Sir Keir’s plans to transform Whitehall departments were “kind of being resurrected” by Mr Burnham.

Sir Keir, in 2025, said Labour could not justify the duplication of work between NHS England and the DHSC.

He went further, saying Westminster created agencies as a “knee-jerk response to difficult questions, to difficult lobbies”, rather than engage in “active government”.

Yvette Cooper, the Health Secretary, has insisted the new quango, announced earlier this week, would be a “temporary arrangement that will support the transition to a more devolved model”.

Mr Burnham’s “10-year plan” speech was set for the end of this year, but will now likely be delayed until January.

He told The Economist last week: “We may go into the new year – to be honest, there is that. December or January – I think we will need to leave that open.”

The Prime Minister in July said the plan would set a path from “where we are now to where I believe we all want Britain to be”.