Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the LNER timetable on (a) the local economy, (b) tourism, and (c) connectivity in the Scottish Borders.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the new East Coast Main Line timetable has been developed, both the Department and the operators, including LNER, TransPennine Express and CrossCountry, have considered the effect on local economies and tourism along the route. This includes the Scottish Borders area, where extra services and stops have been introduced in the last few years to maintain connectivity in advance of the London services being revised this December, and further Scottish Border local services will be introduced in December.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the measures the DVSA implemented to help reduce waiting times for driving tests that she announced to the Transport Select Committee on 23 April 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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. These actions include incentivised additional testing offers for driving examiners, doubling permanent training capacity for new driving examiners, and a call for volunteers from those currently in other roles (but qualified to examine) to carry out practical driving tests.
As acknowledged in the announcement regarding these measures, DVSA understands the potential impact high waiting times have on learner drivers, and the importance of helping learners pass quickly.
DVSA conducted 10,400 additional tests in June 2025 as a result of the additional test allowance, which was introduced on 1 June 2025. DVSA conducted 10,638 additional tests in July 2025. The 10,400 and 10,638 additional tests are as a comparison with the number we conducted in the equivalent scheme in June and July 2024.
The table below shows the average waiting times in July at (a) Hawick, (b) Galashiels, (c) Kelso, (d) Duns and (e) Berwick-On-Tweed test centres.
Location | Average Waiting Times July 25 |
Hawick | 22.3 Weeks |
Galashiels | 23.5 Weeks |
Kelso | 24 Weeks |
Duns | 24 Weeks |
Berwick | 22.8 Weeks |
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of waiting times for driving tests on people seeking a driving licence.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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. These actions include incentivised additional testing offers for driving examiners, doubling permanent training capacity for new driving examiners, and a call for volunteers from those currently in other roles (but qualified to examine) to carry out practical driving tests.
As acknowledged in the announcement regarding these measures, DVSA understands the potential impact high waiting times have on learner drivers, and the importance of helping learners pass quickly.
DVSA conducted 10,400 additional tests in June 2025 as a result of the additional test allowance, which was introduced on 1 June 2025. DVSA conducted 10,638 additional tests in July 2025. The 10,400 and 10,638 additional tests are as a comparison with the number we conducted in the equivalent scheme in June and July 2024.
The table below shows the average waiting times in July at (a) Hawick, (b) Galashiels, (c) Kelso, (d) Duns and (e) Berwick-On-Tweed test centres.
Location | Average Waiting Times July 25 |
Hawick | 22.3 Weeks |
Galashiels | 23.5 Weeks |
Kelso | 24 Weeks |
Duns | 24 Weeks |
Berwick | 22.8 Weeks |
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time is for driving tests at (a) Hawick, (b) Galashiels, (c) Kelso, (d) Duns and (e) Berwick-On-Tweed test centres.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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. These actions include incentivised additional testing offers for driving examiners, doubling permanent training capacity for new driving examiners, and a call for volunteers from those currently in other roles (but qualified to examine) to carry out practical driving tests.
As acknowledged in the announcement regarding these measures, DVSA understands the potential impact high waiting times have on learner drivers, and the importance of helping learners pass quickly.
DVSA conducted 10,400 additional tests in June 2025 as a result of the additional test allowance, which was introduced on 1 June 2025. DVSA conducted 10,638 additional tests in July 2025. The 10,400 and 10,638 additional tests are as a comparison with the number we conducted in the equivalent scheme in June and July 2024.
The table below shows the average waiting times in July at (a) Hawick, (b) Galashiels, (c) Kelso, (d) Duns and (e) Berwick-On-Tweed test centres.
Location | Average Waiting Times July 25 |
Hawick | 22.3 Weeks |
Galashiels | 23.5 Weeks |
Kelso | 24 Weeks |
Duns | 24 Weeks |
Berwick | 22.8 Weeks |
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to reduce the length of waiting times for driving tests.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
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. These actions include incentivised additional testing offers for driving examiners, doubling permanent training capacity for new driving examiners, and a call for volunteers from those currently in other roles (but qualified to examine) to carry out practical driving tests.
As acknowledged in the announcement regarding these measures, DVSA understands the potential impact high waiting times have on learner drivers, and the importance of helping learners pass quickly.
DVSA conducted 10,400 additional tests in June 2025 as a result of the additional test allowance, which was introduced on 1 June 2025. DVSA conducted 10,638 additional tests in July 2025. The 10,400 and 10,638 additional tests are as a comparison with the number we conducted in the equivalent scheme in June and July 2024.
The table below shows the average waiting times in July at (a) Hawick, (b) Galashiels, (c) Kelso, (d) Duns and (e) Berwick-On-Tweed test centres.
Location | Average Waiting Times July 25 |
Hawick | 22.3 Weeks |
Galashiels | 23.5 Weeks |
Kelso | 24 Weeks |
Duns | 24 Weeks |
Berwick | 22.8 Weeks |
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test examiners have been employed by the DVSA in each month since July 2024.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since July last year, up to and including July 2025, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has recruited and trained 226 driving examiners DEs who are now in post and delivering driving tests. The table below breaks down this figure by month, from July 2024 to July 2025.
New DE's who have successfully completed training and moved into post. | |
Jul-24 | 10 |
Aug-24 | 12 |
Sep-24 | 19 |
Oct-24 | 7 |
Nov-24 | 10 |
Dec-24 | 6 |
Jan-25 | 16 |
Feb-25 | 36 |
Mar-25 | 23 |
Apr-25 | 17 |
May-25 | 14 |
Jun-25 | 30 |
Jul-25 | 26 |
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an estimate of the (a) number of people waiting and (b) the average waiting time to take a category F driving test in the Scottish Borders in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
As at 8 July 2022, there are 22 people waiting to take a category F (tractor) driving test in the Scottish Borders.
To accommodate the tractor testing manoeuvres, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) conducts category F tests at the closest, suitable location to the candidate’s home address. The DVSA allocates the most suitable examiner to do this. As the test does not take place at a DVSA test centre, the examiner needs time to travel to and from the meeting point for the test as well as the time to conduct the test itself.
The DVSA does not calculate an average waiting time for the category F test as the very low test demand and non-standard booking procedure for tractor tests could distort the waiting time, which would not be representative.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an estimate of (a) the number of people waiting for and (b) the average waiting time to take a category B driving test at (a) Duns, (b) Hawick, (c) Galashiels, (d) Kelso, (e) Peebles and (f) Berwick-upon-Tweed driving test centres.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The table below shows the number of car (category B) tests that are booked at the following driving test centres (DTC).
| Duns DTC | Hawick DTC | Galashiels DTC | Kelso DTC | Peebles DTC | Berwick Upon Tweed DTC |
Number of car (category B) tests booked | 40 | 118 | 499 | 91 | 100 | 212 |
Average waiting time in weeks for a car (category B) test | 24 | 17 | 24 | 6 | 16 | 9 |
Driving test centre type | Remote | Remote | Permanent | Remote | Remote | Remote |
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on mutual priorities for improving cross-border transport links following the publication of Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 by Transport Scotland.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
UK Government Transport Ministers regularly engage with their counterparts in the Scottish Government to discuss matters of shared interest, including improving cross-border transport connectivity.
The Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2) draft recommendations include improvements to the A75 and A77, routes that were also highlighted in the independent Union Connectivity Review carried out by Sir Peter Hendy and published in November 2021. The UK Government has invited the Scottish Government to work in partnership to consider the recommendations of the Union Connectivity Review and identify solutions which work best for the people of the UK.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what engagement he has had with Scottish local authorities on the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Data on domestic charging devices funded by the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) are presented in the table. Figures are from 1 July 2021.
| EVHS funded charging devices |
Scottish Borders | 352 |
Scotland | 11,582 |
UK | 157,652 |
The Department holds data on plug-in car grants but this database does not provide the geographic breakdown required.
The table below shows, up to the end of December 2020, the number of plug-in car grant eligible models registered for the first time in the respective geographies. The right hand column provides an estimate of the maximum financial value of the grant support for these vehicles. This was calculated from vehicle registration data by applying amount of available grant for eligible models at the time of registration. This estimate does not mean that every car registered received the grant or that other cars did not receive the grant before the end of December 2020 but had not registered the car yet.
Area of registration | Number of registrations for eligible models | Maximum potential grant support awarded 1 |
Scotland Borders Unitary Authority | 308 | £1.1 million |
Scotland | 17,266 | £61 million |
UK | 301,096 | £1,066 million |
7 Scottish local authorities have been awarded grants totalling £1,065,381 through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS), up to July 2021. The Scheme is administered on the Department’s behalf by Energy Saving Trust, who offer expert advice and support to local authorities throughout the application process. Energy Saving Trust, in partnership with the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, also hosts a library of webinars and guidance documents focussing on the challenges that authorities face when installing charging infrastructure, while promoting the available funding.
In early 2022, in collaboration with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, we will publish an EV infrastructure guide for local authority EV officers, to assist with the transition to ZEVs. This guide will cover the steps needed to take in order to deploy chargepoints for residents. Scottish local authorities were involved in the scoping of the document and will be asked to comment at consultation stage in due course.
The Government wants to ensure that drivers can benefit from the transition to zero emission vehicles. The On-Street Residential Chargeoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities to provide public chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking. £20 million is available in 2021-22 to UK local authorities through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme.