Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the average waiting time for a practical driving test in the UK.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks.
The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.
On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.
This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent the reselling of block-booked driving tests.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks.
The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.
On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.
This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for driving tests.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks.
The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.
On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.
This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the waiting time for a practical driving test is at each of the test centres in Scotland.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks.
The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system.
DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing.
On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.
This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason her Department has chosen to decline to support more open access services along the Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley via Newcastle route.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As detailed in the 4 February response to the Office of Rail and Road, the Department did not support Lumo’s applications to operate additional Open Access services between London Kings Cross and Newcastle, and to extend existing Newcastle/Edinburgh services on to Glasgow, due to concern over the capacity of the East Coast Main Line and the consequential detrimental effects on reliability; and also the impact of the revenue reduction to existing services on the route, which would diminish revenue and thus increase subsidy from taxpayers to the railway as a whole. Access to the network, however, is currently a matter for the Office of Rail and Road in its capacity as independent regulator, and it will now consider the Department’s response alongside those from other consultees, and its statutory duties before making, a decision.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have committed £200m funding in the Autumn budget to support charging infrastructure rollout. This is on top of over £6 billion in private investment committed out to 2030, and bolsters existing grants and funding to support chargepoint installation. There are now over 74,000 public chargepoints in the UK, with almost 20,000 new chargepoints added and a 45% increase in rural chargepoints in 2024. On 24 December, we announced a range of measures to remove barriers to chargepoint rollout, including to improve grid connections for chargepoints.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with the (a) Secretary of State for Levelling Up and Communities and (b) devolved Administrations on the potential impact of (i) tram and (ii) light rail projects on active travel infrastructure.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department for Transport has regular discussions with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, as well as with the devolved administrations. However, no specific discussions have taken place with these bodies regarding the impact of light rail projects on active travel infrastructure.
Local transport authorities are responsible for bringing forward mass transit projects, including developing proposals regarding technology choice, route selection and alignment. The Department encourages authorities to consider how mass transit schemes can provide effective integration with other modes, including active travel.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support scientific innovation in sustainable transport research.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Net Zero Innovation Board oversees the Government’s portfolio of research supporting the transition to net zero and is chaired by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser. The Department for Transport is investing £377m over the current Spending Review period into research & development on decarbonisation.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of VAT applied to electric vehicle charging on his electric vehicle policies.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has committed to keeping the transition to electric vehicles affordable for consumers across the UK. Taxation policy and its impacts are taken into consideration when developing policies that will support and accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles. Taxation is a matter for HM Treasury and the Chancellor keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The records available to the Department for Transport via the Crown Commercial Service (CCS), as declared by suppliers on their permanent recruitment frameworks, for each of the last three years are as follows:
2020/21 | £100,044.62 |
2021/22 | £45,532.00 |
2022/23 | £189,376.90 (to date) |
Note: Recruitment consultancies are used by the department to attract the talent and specialist skills required to deliver its strategic objectives and services. It is possible, but unlikely, that some spend has occurred that has not been declared by suppliers, although the Department’s internal finance system does not record data in such a way that allows this to be cross-checked. These totals are inclusive of recruitment to the Department for Transport and its Executive Agencies (DVSA, DVLA, MCA, VCA and ATE) and for both senior civil service (SCS) and delegated grade recruitment. The figure for 20/21 was higher than expected due to a higher volume of recruitment targeted at individuals with specialist/hard to recruit skills. The increase in 22/23 over the previous year results from a renewed focus on the department’s places for growth agenda and a growing focus on recruiting outside London.