Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of DVSA testers available to test commercial vehicles; and if he will make a statement.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) priority is to help people keep their vehicles safe to drive. It is working hard to ensure there is sufficient testing resources across the network to meet demand.

The DVSA has set up a specialist team to address the concerns of authorised testing facilities (ATF), and is holding a series of local events across the country from January to April 2018 to work with ATFs to improve the efficiency of testing.

The DVSA is in the process of making employment offers to an additional 26 new entrant staff to join the agency by April 2018, and plans to launch a further recruitment campaign in early February to ensure it has the right people with the right skills in the right areas.