Oral Answers to Questions

Jas Athwal Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Holden, you are getting very excited. Hale and Pace are not setting a good example. Come on.

[Jas Athwal (Ilford South) (Lab)]

T4. Although I welcome recent efforts to get a grip on the outrageous driving test backlog, more needs to be done. I urge the Secretary of State and the DVSA to take further steps to safeguard the online booking system from profiteering by restricting driving schools from booking tests in bulk and by removing the test swapping features to stop reselling at huge mark-ups.

[Simon Lightwood]

I agree that waiting times have been too high for too long, which is why this Government are taking the decisive action that I have talked about. We are reforming the booking system so that only genuine learner drivers can book and manage tests, and we are making changes to crack down on bots and resellers. Members will have seen the announcement yesterday of the road safety strategy. Importantly, the minimum learning period is expected to improve safety and raise pass rates by up to 7%—for every 1% saved there, there are an extra 40,000 test bookings.