Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has been made of potential correlation between proposals to introduce a six-month learning period for learner drivers and efforts to reduce driving test waiting times.

The Road Safety Strategy, published on the 7th January, includes consulting on a Minimum Learning Period before learner drivers can take their practical test.

A Minimum Learning Period is designed to prepare people better for a lifetime of safe driving by giving them more time to build up essential skills.

With more preparation for their test more people may pass first or second time, which could help reduce the waiting time for tests by reducing demand from learners booking to retake their test.

Introducing a minimum learning period could raise driving test pass rates and for every 1% increase in pass rate sustained over a year, around 40,000 test slots are freed up over the course of the year. Research suggests that a Minimum Learning Period may increase the pass rate by up to 7 percentage points.