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The Prospect trade union is warning that the privatisation option VOSA is putting forward for ministerial consideration could endanger public safety.

Last week VOSA announced to staff that its preferred option would be to outsource frontline functions such as lorry and bus testing; training services; operator licensing administration; prosecution and legal services; traffic, vehicle and MOT enforcement administration; and routine enforcement. These would be handled  by one or more private companies under the overarching control of the government agency which would continue to handle policy, standards and monitoring.

A VOSA statement says: “Through a process of evaluating a wide number of options for private sector involvement, a Public Private Partnership (PPP) has been identified as the most appropriate business model to take forward for development into the Outline Business Case.” VOSA is currently preparing a public service comparator – that is an internal bid which ministers will compare against the private sector proposal for performance and value.

However the unions say they have not been involved in this in-house submission.  Kevin Warden, secretary of the vehicle inspectorate chapter of VOSA says: “We asked to engage with the team on the in-house bid but were told it was too early. Now it appears it will soon be complete and the minister will make his decision in late spring.”

The  lack of information and involvement on the in-house bid has made some insiders feel that the management are putting more resources behind the Deloitte bid than the in-house one.

A ministerial decision on the fate on these VOSA functions is expected late spring/early summer.

VOSA says: “We are keen to ensure that we gather industry and customer views on any potential outsourcing and have created a number of industry consultation groups to ensure we gather views directly from our Customers and Trade Associations.”

To express your views on the privatisation of VOSA frontline activities join TruckNet.

For more on this story, see Commercial Motor 22 March.