Jenny Willott, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central, has expressed her concern at the closure of the Driving Standards Authority in Cardiff.
The Department of Transport today announced the closure of the office, which employs 87 staff and deals with the deployment of driving test examiners around Wales, the West Midlands and Southern England, as well as handling all Welsh language enquiries to the Authority.
Local MP Jenny Willott has previously raised in the House of Commons the possibility of housing the staff in another Government building in South Wales, to help cut costs. The Government has confirmed that it intends to keep a small office of around eight to twelve staff in Cardiff.
Commenting Jenny Willott said:
“I am really disappointed at this closure. While it is important that the Government works to reduce public spending to help tackle the deficit, I believe it might have been possible to save more jobs, while still saving money, by moving the staff into vacant space in one of South Wales’ many Government-owned buildings.
“I am pleased that the Government intends to retain at least a small presence in Cardiff, but it is important that the reduced office still has enough staff to handle the Welsh language services and their other responsibilities.
“I will be writing to the Department of Transport to ensure that they take this into account in their decisions on the size of the new office.”
