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Department for Transport: Performance Appraisal

Asked by Neil O'BrienConservativeDepartment for TransportTabled Answered 6 November 2025UIN 86289

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.

Answered by Simon Lightwood

We have provided a response based on the number of submitted reviews over the entirety of a complete performance year (April 1 to March 31), for performance years 2024/25, 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, 2020/21. This has been split, where possible, between Department for Transport (DfT) core and its agencies (Active Travel England (ATE), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)). In addition, data has been split by Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and delegated grades (Grade 6 and below), as performance is managed differently.

The information provided does not include employees that have been marked as out of scope for review, and where figures within each business unit are below 5, these have been withheld for identification protection under S40(2) of the FOIA.

TOTAL REVIEWS CONDUCTED

Year

DfTc

DVLA

DVSA

MCA

VCA

ATE

SCS

2024/25

10760

70181

14372

4005

666

209

281

2023/24

6815

69824

12669

4228

585

N/A

284

2022/23

10364

70408

17430

4169

634

N/A

271

2021/22

10915

62607

N/A

4261

737

N/A

243

2020/21

9587

65827

N/A

4409

515

N/A

232

NUMBER OF UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE RATINGS

Year

DfTc

DVLA

DVSA

MCA

VCA

ATE

SCS

2024/25

92

605

72

30

<5

<5

13

2023/24

55

462

67

43

<5

N/A

9

2022/23

106

379

115

50

<5

N/A

11

2021/22

118

148

N/A

51

<5

N/A

11

2020/21

86

148

N/A

69

7

N/A

12

NUMBER OF DIMISSALS AS A RESULT OF PERFORMANCE AND FTE PROPORTION

Year

DfTc

DVLA

DVSA

MCA

VCA

ATE

SCS

TOTAL (FTE proportion for whole group)

2024/25

<5

<5

<5

<5

<5

<5

<5

2 (0.01%)

2023/24

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

0

2022/23

<5

<5

<5

<5

<5

<5

<5

7 (0.05%)

2021/22

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

0

2020/21

<5

<5

<5

<5

<5

N/A

<5

2 (0.01%)

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