Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to address the backlog of driving test applications.

In March 2020, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) suspended most of its services in line with Government guidance, whilst maintaining access for critical workers to support the national emergency response.

The DVSA is restoring its testing services with new procedures in place to keep people safe and help stop the spread of coronavirus. As the DVSA has been unable to provide its normal level of service for the past six months, demand for practical driving tests are higher than usual.

The DVSA has now made over 375,000 slots available to the end of January 2021. From 19 October, driving examiners will be increasing the number of tests they conduct from five to six per day; this should help reduce waiting times.

The DVSA’s Deployment team has now returned to its usual way of working by adding new test slots to the booking system at the start of every week.