Expanding Partnership Working

July 2004 saw DVLA’s Crime Reduction Group (CRG) initiate the first of its meetings with local authorities. Bethan Beasley headed DVLA’s team of Rob Toft, Bill Skedgell, Andy Wong and Jeff Burt. The gathering was hosted by the Association of London Government (ALG) at their Southwark Headquarters. The ALG facilitated the attendance of representatives from 22 London Borough Councils. The team gave presentations on Agency business in general and on CRG work in detail. This work concentrated on vehicle cloning, number plate fraud, overseas registered vehicles, identity fraud and vehicle excise duty enforcement. The topics generated a healthy debate giving everyone the opportunity to discuss issues that may impact on local authorities. The meeting provided a good opportunity to introduce Mark Hollands from DVLA’s Local Operations Directorate who is the newly appointed enforcement co-ordinator for London. The Agency intends to meet with all its local authority stakeholders so that partnership working can be expanded and developed. This will ultimately contribute to a reduction in vehicle-related crime. This first meeting certainly struck a chord with the audience as they requested that CRG’s team return sometime soon for further discussion before Christmas 2004. The positive feedback and experience gained from this meeting will inform CRG’s plan for meeting with local authorities across the UK.

Article by Jeff Burt, taken from DVL Today - Issue 27 - Reproduced under Crown Copyright