Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the backlog of people waiting to take their practical driving tests as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.
As of 24 May 2021, there were nationally circa 140,000 practical car tests still available to book over the next 24 weeks.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) advises candidates to look for earlier dates by checking the ‘change your driving test’ service at: www.gov.uk/change-driving-test. The service is live and additional tests are added when they become available. Cancellations are also returned to the system by other candidates who often reschedule their test at short notice, freeing up test appointments for others to book. The DVSA also advises candidates to check availability at other nearby test centres.
As of 24 May 2021, there are, on average, 30,000 practical car driving test appointments available each week. This is compared to, on average, 33,000 available tests each week pre-March 2020.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently only able to deliver a maximum of 6 tests, per examiner, each day. Out of hours tests are limited to weekends only. When the service returns to 7 tests a day, the DVSA will be able to reintroduce evening tests. The aim is that an increase in test slots, together with an increase in examiners, will see the number of available weekly test slots exceed that of pre-March 2020.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of practical driving tests appointments available each week; and what comparative assessment he has made of that data and the availability of tests before the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.
As of 24 May 2021, there were nationally circa 140,000 practical car tests still available to book over the next 24 weeks.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) advises candidates to look for earlier dates by checking the ‘change your driving test’ service at: www.gov.uk/change-driving-test. The service is live and additional tests are added when they become available. Cancellations are also returned to the system by other candidates who often reschedule their test at short notice, freeing up test appointments for others to book. The DVSA also advises candidates to check availability at other nearby test centres.
As of 24 May 2021, there are, on average, 30,000 practical car driving test appointments available each week. This is compared to, on average, 33,000 available tests each week pre-March 2020.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently only able to deliver a maximum of 6 tests, per examiner, each day. Out of hours tests are limited to weekends only. When the service returns to 7 tests a day, the DVSA will be able to reintroduce evening tests. The aim is that an increase in test slots, together with an increase in examiners, will see the number of available weekly test slots exceed that of pre-March 2020.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) advice and (b) support his Department is providing to people who are unable to book practical driving tests due to limited availability.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.
As of 24 May 2021, there were nationally circa 140,000 practical car tests still available to book over the next 24 weeks.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) advises candidates to look for earlier dates by checking the ‘change your driving test’ service at: www.gov.uk/change-driving-test. The service is live and additional tests are added when they become available. Cancellations are also returned to the system by other candidates who often reschedule their test at short notice, freeing up test appointments for others to book. The DVSA also advises candidates to check availability at other nearby test centres.
As of 24 May 2021, there are, on average, 30,000 practical car driving test appointments available each week. This is compared to, on average, 33,000 available tests each week pre-March 2020.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently only able to deliver a maximum of 6 tests, per examiner, each day. Out of hours tests are limited to weekends only. When the service returns to 7 tests a day, the DVSA will be able to reintroduce evening tests. The aim is that an increase in test slots, together with an increase in examiners, will see the number of available weekly test slots exceed that of pre-March 2020.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of available practical driving tests.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.
As of 24 May 2021, there were nationally circa 140,000 practical car tests still available to book over the next 24 weeks.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) advises candidates to look for earlier dates by checking the ‘change your driving test’ service at: www.gov.uk/change-driving-test. The service is live and additional tests are added when they become available. Cancellations are also returned to the system by other candidates who often reschedule their test at short notice, freeing up test appointments for others to book. The DVSA also advises candidates to check availability at other nearby test centres.
As of 24 May 2021, there are, on average, 30,000 practical car driving test appointments available each week. This is compared to, on average, 33,000 available tests each week pre-March 2020.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently only able to deliver a maximum of 6 tests, per examiner, each day. Out of hours tests are limited to weekends only. When the service returns to 7 tests a day, the DVSA will be able to reintroduce evening tests. The aim is that an increase in test slots, together with an increase in examiners, will see the number of available weekly test slots exceed that of pre-March 2020.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve safety in shared spaces for (a) cyclists and (b) pedestrians while social distancing is required during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring any changes to their road networks are safe and fit for purpose. The statutory guidance published on 9 May on reallocating road space set out the steps Government expects local authorities to take to provide more space to cycling and walking, and to enable social distancing, in response to Covid-19. It is available at
Alongside the guidance, the Department announced emergency active travel funding of £225M, to help local authorities make changes to their roads to enable more walking and cycling, and to enable social distancing.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has published guidance for local authorities with information and examples of measures that may be undertaken to adapt and manage public spaces in order to help social distancing. It is available at
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safer-public-places-urban-centres-and-green-spaces-covid-19