Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she has taken to reduce the waiting times for practical driving tests in Buckinghamshire since September 2024.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.

On the 18 December last year, DVSA published measures to bring down car practical driving test waiting times across the country, including the recruitment of driving examiners (DEs). On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions.

Further information on these actions and progress on the plan can be found on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/government/news/transport-secretary-acts-to-make-thousands-of-extra-driving-tests-available-each-month.

DVSA continues to run recruitment campaigns for new DEs and is in the final processes of the most recent campaign.

From recent recruitment in Buckinghamshire, DVSA had one new DE start in August, and has another booked onto an upcoming training course.

DVSA is in the planning stages for the next campaign, which will include driving test centres in the area, and this is due to launch shortly.