Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to expedite the processing of priority medical driving licence renewal cases.

The length of time taken to deal with a driving licence application where the applicant has declared a medical condition depends on the medical condition(s) involved and whether further information is required from third parties. This can include NHS healthcare professionals or the applicant themselves, before a licensing decision can be made. In around 50% of cases, the DVLA is awaiting information from a third party before any further action can be taken.

The DVLA triage applications when they are received and are prioritised on a case-by-case basis, for example if the customer needs a licence quickly for work or travel purposes.

To help reduce waiting times for customers, the DVLA has introduced a simplified licence renewal process for some medical conditions. This change has significantly reduced the need for further information from medical professionals and enabled more licensing decisions to be made based on the information provided by the driver. The DVLA is considering if more medical conditions can be added to this process in the future.