Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to make it a criminal offence to re-sell driving test slots.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

It is currently not a criminal offence to re-sell driving test slots.

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests, often at significant profit. The agency encourages all customers to book a test through the official channel on GOV.UK where customers can book, change and cancel tests. The agency does not license any service to resell test slots.

DVSA operates an online booking service (OBS) for approved driving instructors (ADI) and trainers so that they can book and manage driving and riding tests for their pupils. DVSA has made changes to the OBS by stopping automatic online registrations to use the service, ensuring each company that registers employs an ADI and removing access for any companies not linked to driving instructors.

In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to reduce the selling of tests for profit. Since then, the agency has issued 327 warnings, 779 suspensions, and closed 727 business accounts for misuse of its booking service.

DVSA is deploying enhanced bot protection to stop automated systems from buying up test slots unfairly.

DVSA’s work in this area is continuing and will continue to take steps to address these practices.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether NATS Holdings will be required to compensate airlines for the consequences of its IT failure last year.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Government regrets the NATS operational failure and the impact this had on airlines and their customers. The Independent Review into this incident has now concluded and lessons will be learned. NATS is regulated against service targets set by the Civil Aviation Authority. There are annual incentives for NATS linked to its performance so if this falls below target levels it may incur penalties. However, NATS is not penalised for individual incidents such as the technical failure of August 2023.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding of the Carers Trust report Caring and classes: the education gap for young carers, published in September, that almost a quarter of young carers said there is “no support at all” for young carers in their school, college or university.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The department appreciates the ongoing efforts of the Carers Trust in supporting carers of all ages across the UK. Their recent report, ‘Caring and Classes: The Education Gap for Young Carers’, examines the support available to young and young adult carers in educational settings and we have noted its findings.

This government is committed to breaking down the barriers of opportunity for all young people, including young carers who provide a critical role caring for their loved ones and are all too often hidden from view.

Young carers were added to the school census in the 2022/23 academic year. This change has raised awareness and their profile and, for the first time, provided hard data on both the numbers of young carers and their education, including data cited by the Carers Trust. The last annual spring census collection had 72% of schools recording zero young carers, which is an improvement on 2023 where it was 79%.

As this is a new data collection, the department expects the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. All schools, except nurseries, must send this information as part of the spring school census, though the recording and handling of the information is at the school’s discretion. We will continue to monitor the quality of data on young carers that is collected via the school register, for consideration to include in the daily data collection in the future.

Ofsted has committed to developing and consulting upon a revised schools’ inspection framework for September 2025. This will support the new school report card, which will also be in place from that time. A consultation on the framework and report card is scheduled to launch early in the new year. The department and Ofsted are engaging closely to take this forward and will consider how schools are to be assessed in future in terms of their contribution to inclusion, bearing in mind the government’s mission to ensure that all children, including young carers, can achieve and thrive at school.

The Children’s Social Care National Framework, which was issued in December 2023, is statutory guidance for local authorities. It provides clarity on the outcomes that leaders and practitioners should achieve when supporting children, young people and families, including in the identification and assessment of support for young carers. Safeguarding partners, and other relevant agencies including education, should read and engage with the National Framework as they have an important role in supportive positive outcomes and improving access to opportunities.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to list young carers separately in daily school attendance reporting in order to assess the impact of caring on school attendance.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The department appreciates the ongoing efforts of the Carers Trust in supporting carers of all ages across the UK. Their recent report, ‘Caring and Classes: The Education Gap for Young Carers’, examines the support available to young and young adult carers in educational settings and we have noted its findings.

This government is committed to breaking down the barriers of opportunity for all young people, including young carers who provide a critical role caring for their loved ones and are all too often hidden from view.

Young carers were added to the school census in the 2022/23 academic year. This change has raised awareness and their profile and, for the first time, provided hard data on both the numbers of young carers and their education, including data cited by the Carers Trust. The last annual spring census collection had 72% of schools recording zero young carers, which is an improvement on 2023 where it was 79%.

As this is a new data collection, the department expects the quality of the data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. All schools, except nurseries, must send this information as part of the spring school census, though the recording and handling of the information is at the school’s discretion. We will continue to monitor the quality of data on young carers that is collected via the school register, for consideration to include in the daily data collection in the future.

Ofsted has committed to developing and consulting upon a revised schools’ inspection framework for September 2025. This will support the new school report card, which will also be in place from that time. A consultation on the framework and report card is scheduled to launch early in the new year. The department and Ofsted are engaging closely to take this forward and will consider how schools are to be assessed in future in terms of their contribution to inclusion, bearing in mind the government’s mission to ensure that all children, including young carers, can achieve and thrive at school.

The Children’s Social Care National Framework, which was issued in December 2023, is statutory guidance for local authorities. It provides clarity on the outcomes that leaders and practitioners should achieve when supporting children, young people and families, including in the identification and assessment of support for young carers. Safeguarding partners, and other relevant agencies including education, should read and engage with the National Framework as they have an important role in supportive positive outcomes and improving access to opportunities.