Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the two-year period for passing a practical driving test from the date of a successful theory test for people waiting to take practical driving tests during the covid-19 outbreak.

The two-year validity period of the theory test certificate is set in legislation and the Government has taken the decision not to lay further legislation to extend it. The primary reason is that the two-year validity is in place to ensure that a candidate’s theoretical knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point they drive on their own for the first time. Extending the validity would provide less reassurance that this is the case. Those whose certificate previously expired and have since passed the theory test will now have a further two years in which to pass the practical test.