To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what (a) number and (b) percentage of calls were unanswered at the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in the last 12 months; and what targets the agency sets for response times to calls. (137330)

The VOSA enquiry unit operates a system that fields calls to appropriately trained staff. During the last 12 months 189,262 customers have terminated their call before being put through to enquiry unit staff. This represents 24.8 per cent. of the total calls received.

To meet the recent increase in demand on the enquiry unit, VOSA have employed 10 additional staff and implemented a call monitoring system. VOSA anticipate a reduction in unanswered calls to meet industry standards by the end of June 2007.