Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the current waiting times for practical driving tests in (a) City of Durham and (b) the North East.

As of 13 December 2021, the waiting time for a car practical driving test in (a) Durham is 4 weeks, and the average waiting time in (b) the North East is 14.3 weeks.

The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce waiting times as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to examiners, asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners.