01/FOI/24/037900
10/05/2024 Request:
Please provide the information the MPS possess about notifications to the DVLA and why the numbers would differ so greatly.
This request follows the observation made – LINK to WDTK request.
Please confirm the theft data has been checked & verified. Your records indicate 39,494 vehicles were stolen in 2023. The DVLA theft notifications from the MPS total 27,924 for 2023, a difference of about 40%. The MPS difference alone increases the theft total (all constabularies) by over 10%, from 106,000 to 118,000 i.e. it significantly skews the figures.’
I would not expect this information to be recorded on a case by case basis, but centrally held.
I do not envisage DVLA guidance to vehicle owners whose vehicles are stolen having any bearing. As you have explained, DVLA advice is:
‘The police will tell DVLA about the theft and if the vehicle is found.’
This request is intended to determine why there is an anomaly; you told the DVLA about 28,000 vehicle thefts (DVLA records) but you recorded about 39,500 thefts.
31/05/2024, the MPS emailed asking for the following clarification:
Please could you provide a link to where you got the DVLA data from as I have searched and cannot find it. Also please confirm that the DVLA data you are referring to covers the date range of 01/01/2023 – 31/01/2024 (which is the date range you requested for your Freedom of Information act request to us)
31/05/2024 to the MPS:
I have utilized DVLA data for 01/01/2022* to 31/12/2022*. The information was supplied by the DVLA, their reference FoIR 10303, a spreadsheet appendix to the request.
The MPS recorded 26,117 vehicles as stolen.
*error corrected to 2023
Further clarification provided to the MPS:
The 2023 DVLA data was provided in their FoIA response FoIR11149:
Jan-23 2,423
Feb-23 2,027
Mar-23 2,302
Apr-23 2,165
May-23 2,453
Jun-23 2,234
Jul-23 2,341
Aug-23 2,344
Sep-23 2,508
Oct-23 2,421
Nov-23 2,461
Dec-23 2,245
total held by DVLA 27,924 for 2023
In an MPS FoIA response, I was informed vehicle thefts totalled 39,494. a substantial difference.
06/06/2024 response by the MPS:
SEARCHES TO LOCATE INFORMATION
To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within the MPS and DVLA. The searches did not locate any information relevant to your request, therefore, the information you have requested is not held by the MPS.
The reason for this is that we can only provide recorded information, as you are asking why there is a discrepancy between reported vehicle thefts recorded by the MPS and the DVLA, we would need to create new information to answer this.
Further to the above you were informed in the response to 01/FOI/24/037106 sent to you on 10/05/2024 that we cannot compare data sets as quoted below:
‘It is not possible to compare the data as we do not know what parameters other police forces / organisations have used for extracting their data.’
This position still stands and would be the same for the data provided to you by the DVLA.
However after been in contact with the DVLA I can confirm that there is no direct contact between the Police and DVLA when a car is stolen and it is updated via updates on the Police National Computer (PNC). When a vehicle is reported stolen to the Met Call (MO12) will put a ‘lost or stolen’ marker on the vehicle on PNC which is then updated by the DVLA on their systems.
DUTY TO ADVISE & ASSIST
Whilst we cannot assist you further in the MPS with this matter, you may wish to try to submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the DVLA separately to see if they hold recorded information on this matter. Also as the Police National Computer is a Home Office system, you may wish to also submit one to them.