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 driving test appointments available in (a) the London Borough of Southwark and (b) London.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) recognises there is a high demand for learners who are wanting to take their car practical driving test.

The DVSA has a 24-week forward booking window and tests are not available to book beyond this. As the booking service is live, test appointments can also become available to book through other candidates cancelling, or rescheduling, their test.

As of 15 May 2023, there were 6,402 car practical driving tests booked, and 297 car practical driving tests available within the next 24-weeks at the three centres that serve the London Borough of Southwark.

Within London, as of 15 May 2023, there were 79,109 car practical driving tests booked, and 4,390 car practical driving tests available within the next 24-weeks.

As a result of the measures already taken by the DVSA, overall, since April 2021, an estimated 813,000 additional car test slots have been created. On average, the DVSA is creating approximately 35,300 extra car test slots each month.

Actions already being taken to make this possible include 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, conducting out of hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends, asking recently retired driving examiners to return, and recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain.