Alastair said:

“Being Chief Executive of DVSA has been hugely rewarding and I’m proud of what has been achieved in the relatively short time since the agency was created.

“Thanks to the combined efforts of so many passionate and committed managers and staff, the agency is now firmly established and the work of integration and transformation is well underway. Single trading fund status is now in place and work has begun on a 5 year strategy for the agency.

“We’re delivering efficiencies and passing savings onto our customers. In October 2014 the fee for car and motorcycle theory tests fell by £6, taking the cost of a test from £31 down to £25. We’ll drop this fee a further £2 in October this year, saving learner drivers in excess of £100 million over the next 9 years.

“We’ve ceased testing at a further 17 goods vehicle testing stations and moved out of 20 driving test centres as part of our commitment to reducing government estate.

“Through our work with the industry to create a network of privately-owned authorised testing facilities, operators now have greater choice of where they can have their vehicles tested. They no longer have to travel long distances to government-owned sites and the industry has reported massive savings on fuel costs, reduced vehicle down-time, lower CO2 emissions and improved first-time pass rates.

“And all this has been achieved whilst continuing to deliver consistently excellent service to our customers; indeed we’ve enhanced our service offering.

“With these solid foundations in place, I am confident that this is the right time for the agency to prepare for a change of leadership”.

Paul Satoor, Deputy Chief Executive Officer will take on the role of interim DVSA CEO while work is underway to secure a permanent replacement.