Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is for publishing the review of medical professionals' fees for driver licensing.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is currently engaging with the Professional Fees Committee of the British Medical Association in respect of the fees paid for medical information required for driver licensing purposes.

The DVLA is also reviewing the questionnaires issued to medical professionals when medical information is required to assist in assessing an individual’s fitness to drive; with a view to simplifying the process wherever possible.

The DVLA has introduced a simplified licence renewal process for drivers with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, some mental health conditions, and glaucoma. This renewal process has significantly reduced the need for the DVLA to seek 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 adding more medical conditions to this process.

In July 2022, the law changed to widen the pool of registered healthcare professionals who can provide information as part of the DVLA’s medical investigations into a person’s fitness to drive. Previously, this could only be provided by a doctor. This provides GP surgeries and hospital teams greater flexibility to decide how they manage the DVLA’s requests for information.

These changes will all help to simplify or reduce the number of times the DVLA needs to seek further information from medical professionals.

The length of time taken to process a driving licence application where a medical condition needs to be investigated depends on the condition(s) involved and if further medical information, tests, or examinations are required.

The DVLA, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, is required to ensure that all drivers meet the medical standards for driving before a licence is issued. These investigations can often involve seeking further information about an individual’s medical condition(s) from the relevant healthcare professionals. However, it is important to note that the DVLA does not ask medical professionals to assess an individual’s fitness to drive, and as such, figures about how many such assessments have been received from medical professionals are not available.