Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for driving tests in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

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.

Measures in place to reduce waiting times for customers at all driving test centres (DTC), include the recruitment of new driving examiners (DE), conducting tests outside regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual leave from DEs.

DVSA also continues to deploy DEs from areas with lower waiting times into those where waiting times are longer.

As part of recent recruitment at DTCs that serve the South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, DVSA has made offers to five potential new DEs. This is made up of two DEs at Basildon DTC and three at Southend DTC.

As part of ongoing recruitment, DVSA is aiming to fill a further three vacancies at Tilbury DTC, three at Basildon DTC and one at Southend DTC.