Andy Burnham could reshape the DVLA as part of a plan to “rewire the state”, with Labour said to be weighing whether to merge Britain’s driving licence regulator with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. The proposal comes as the Prime Minister prepares to target unaccountable or underperforming quangos in a 10-year plan speech.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency handles driving tests and MOTs, while the DVLA is responsible for licences. For drivers and aspiring drivers, the practical question is whether those separate functions stay split or are folded into one agency, which would change who handles applications, tests and enforcement paperwork.
Andy Burnham and the 10-year plan
Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, has pushed his devolution agenda in No10 to give more powers to Britain’s regional mayors. The phrase he has used for the wider reform effort is “rewire the state”, and government departments have been sent a rewiring the state commission asking them to identify arm’s-length bodies whose powers can be folded into regional mayors.
That gives the DVLA question a wider frame than a simple machinery-of-government change. It sits inside a review of quangos that now reaches beyond one transport agency and into how much authority central departments keep, and how much can be moved out of Whitehall. The same review has already included NHS England.
DVLA and DVSA pressures
Labour is said to be considering merging the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, according to The Telegraph. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has been slammed for repeated delays at driving test centres, and an average British driver is waiting over 19 weeks for a test.
Waiting times fell in September, and the department has insisted it was making “real progress” for aspiring drivers. That progress sits alongside the continuing pressure of long waits, which means any reorganisation would land on a system already under scrutiny for access and performance.
Sir Keir Starmer’s quango review
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. Last year, Wes Streeting announced the plan to scrap NHS England, and the Government said the plan would “reduce complex bureaucracy”.
Officials have also been re-examining the abolition of NHS England after 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 counterparts. The result is a wider test of whether the Government wants fewer arm’s-length bodies, or a smaller state with responsibilities moved to mayors and departments instead.
For drivers, the immediate issue is simpler: whether the DVLA will actually be scrapped, merged with the DVSA, or left unchanged. Burnham’s push shows the structure is now under discussion, and the next decision will determine whether licence work, tests and MOT administration stay separate or get pulled into one system.
