Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of existing drink driving laws in ensuring that repeat offenders cannot reoffend.

There is a High-Risk Offender (HRO) scheme for those who have been disqualified by a Court for 2 or more drink driving offences within a 10 year period.

Currently, the practical consequence of becoming a drink drive HRO is that the driver’s licence is not automatically re-issued once the period of disqualification has ended. Instead, the HRO must apply for a new licence and the DVLA will only issue a licence after the HRO has proved their medical fitness to drive. The HRO scheme has thus served an important role in helping to keep unsafe drivers off the roads.

The Drink Drive Rehabilitation (DDR) scheme has been found to be effective in preventing offenders committing repeat drink driving offences. Successful completion of the approved course can see a reduction of not less than 3 months or 25% of the disqualification period imposed by the Court. This gives the offender an incentive to participate in the scheme, with beneficial outcomes to society by reduced re-offending.