Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average time was for processing a drivers medical check by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in the latest period for which data is available; and how many and what proportion of outstanding checks are waiting for third parties to provide medical information.

The current average time to make a licensing decision in cases where the driving licence applicant has declared a medical condition is 81.18 working days. This figure includes new applications, notifications and renewals for both Group 1 (cars and motorcycles) and Group 2 (HGV and bus) drivers. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s business plan target is to make a licensing decision within 90 working days in 90 per cent of cases for applications received from October 2022.

On 31 January the DVLA was dealing with 139,238 driving licence applications where a medical condition must be investigated before a licence can be issued. In 78,124 of these cases, the DVLA is awaiting information from third parties (including NHS health care professionals or the customer themselves) before any further action can be taken.

The length of time taken to deal with an application depends on the medical condition(s) involved and whether further information is required before a decision on whether to issue a licence can be made. It is important to note that the majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing they have not been told not to drive by a doctor or optician.