Fleet Industry Manifesto 2015
Fleet News has teamed up with ACFO and the BVRLA to launch the Fleet Industry Manifesto, a series of five topical debates with fleets, leasing companies and industry influencers, which is intended to create a fleet-sector manifesto wish-list to be shared with the main political parties ahead of the 2015 General Election. The initiative has been warmly welcomed by the Department for Transport. Under secretary of state for transport Robert Goodwill told Fleet News the DFT would be “really interested” to see the Manifesto results. “I’d be very keen to see what your priorities are, but also keen for you to shine the spotlight on the opposition parties to see if they would match some of our very ambitious ,” he said. “We’re tripling the roads budget – £24 billion on road investment between 2010 and 2021. “We’re currently running at double the average spend for the last parliament which I think shows a real commitment to improving the road network for both business and leisure users.” ACFO and the BVRLA have achieved notable successes when lobbying government for change, not least in introducing quarterly updates for the Advisory Fuel Rate for business mileage reimbursement and changes to the mechanism used to calculate them; introduction of electronic vehicle registration and impending abolishment of the tax disc and driving licence paper counterpart; and heading off moves by HMRC to cut recoverable VAT on the vehicle leasing rate from 50% to 35/40%. However, frequent changes in personnel at the key government departments and among Whitehall officials make it difficult to maintain a consistent relationship, not least due to the need to re-educate incoming ministers on the issues facing fleet operators and leasing and rental companies. The Fleet Industry Manifesto will help to highlight the major concerns, enabling the main political parties to give them due consideration ahead of writing their own manifestos for the 2015 General Election (scheduled for May 7). Fleet industry manifesto requestsRoad pricing
Electric vehicles/ultra-low emission vehicles
Taxation and policy
Skills and training
Parking and appeals
Communications
Road safety and duty of care
View all manifesto round tables Read the final manifesto document The debatesTax and emissionsRed tape and regulationIntelligent mobilityRoad safety and duty of careRoad networks and infrastructure
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