Driving Tests
(asked on 16th November 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of learners waiting for a practical driving test; and whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of measures taken to reduce the driving test backlog over the past 12 months.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has a 24 week forward booking window and driving tests are not available to book beyond this.
As of 17 November 2022, there were 550,331 car practical tests booked.
Since April 2021, the DVSA has created 595,000 extra car practical driving tests appointments, to help reduce waiting times, by:
Measure introduced | Number of car practical driving slots created |
Recruiting new driving examiners | 245,000 |
Conducting out of normal hours testing through overtime, including at weekends and on public holidays | 165,000 |
Asking colleagues who are qualified to carry out driving tests, but do not do so as part of their normal duties, to do so | 105,000 |
Converting any unsold motorcycle tests and vocational tests to car tests 7 days before the test appointment | 55,000 |
Buying back annual leave from driving examiners | 20,000 |
Inviting recently retired driving examiners to return to work | 6,500 |
The cumulative total of the measures introduced (in the table above) has reduced the length of time forecasted for the DVSA to recover its driving test service by 20 months.