Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for a Group 2 licence for applicants who are required to have a medical assessment.

Driving entitlement for Group 2 drivers must be renewed at regular intervals from age 45. The DVLA sends a reminder to the driver three months before the entitlement expires, enabling them to apply in advance.

To improve the time taken to deal with these applications, the DVLA has recruited additional staff to process them. This includes increasing the number of doctors and introducing nurse caseworkers to deal with specific conditions.

The time taken to deal with applications can depend on the information needed by the DVLA from medical professionals. The DVLA is working with medical professionals to reduce the time taken to receive the information it requires to make licensing decisions.

The DVLA continually reviews its processes and has a dedicated team responsible for the improvement of its medical driver licensing services and communications.