The measures are aimed at reinforcing the quality and security of driving licence data for corporate fleet users and form the first steps towards a new industry standard aimed at ensuring risk free access to licence data once the paper counterpart disappears early in 2015.

The measures are being introduced in response to corporate fleet concerns over non-commercial licence checking services and the potential for misuse and abuse by staff, which could leave their employers at risk under current data protection legislation.

The measures come as DVLA looks to introduce the Share My Driving Licence facility (SMDL), which will allow motorists to share up-to-date information electronically about their driving entitlement. 

Richard Payne-Gill, a director of the ADLV, said: ‘The ADLV has shared its concerns with the DVLA about allowing the driver to produce a PDF version of their record which could easily be manipulated. Further, without training companies may inadvertently accept the document as proof of entitlement to drive not understanding they still need to check further online.

‘Corporate users can avoid this issue by using the services which are already commercially available, these are equipped to deal with employers that need batch services for reasons of organisational efficiency rather than a transactional service, ensuring that their driving licence entitlement is correct and sufficient for their purposes.

‘As corporate users cannot accept any risk, especially when it comes to employee data, they have welcomed the professional, independent licence verification services provided initially by members of the DVLA’s EDECS system and more recently the ADLV itself. Where corporate fleet managers only use an ADLV member, it reduces such risks and these new measures will reinforce the quality of the service they deliver. By using the services of an ADLV member, the possibility of someone playing fast and loose with driver licence data is history.’

He added that the package includes a membership roadmap to ISO 27001 compliance and the addition of e-consent for ID Assurance; ensuring an individual’s identity is properly verified before sensitive personal information is accessed. 

The ADLV is currently working on a range of other new standards aimed at effective corporate fleet governance, which are likely to be announced in the first quarter of 2015.