Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the operators of helicopter search and rescue services on response times.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the Rt Hon Member will be aware, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency manages the contract for search and rescue helicopter services on behalf of the Department for Transport, and the ongoing activity related to the future of these services, including response times. Analysis of recent incident data is underway which will be concluded later this year, after which the MCA will provide further updates.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency's plan to recruit 300 additional driving examiners, how many and what proportion of these additional driving instructors were recruited in Scotland as on 20 September 2022.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
Driver testing services were significantly disrupted during the pandemic, which has led to a high demand for learners who are now wanting to take their driving test.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can, including recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The first recovery recruitment campaign was launched on 10 February 2021. Since then, 285 driving examiners have entered testing, of which 20 were in Scottish test centres.
In addition, there are 147 recruits who are in the process of being trained to become driving examiners, of which 18 are for test centres in Scotland.
The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
On 20 September 2022, the DVSA launched its latest campaign to recruit another 136 driving examiner posts; 8 of these posts are intended for test centres in Scotland.
Since the commencement of the recovery recruitment campaigns, waiting times for car practical driving tests have reduced by 1.5 weeks (based on the DVSA’s data at the end of August 2022).
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the change in the average waiting time for a driving test has been in the period since the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency began its recruitment of 300 additional driving examiners.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
Driver testing services were significantly disrupted during the pandemic, which has led to a high demand for learners who are now wanting to take their driving test.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can, including recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The first recovery recruitment campaign was launched on 10 February 2021. Since then, 285 driving examiners have entered testing, of which 20 were in Scottish test centres.
In addition, there are 147 recruits who are in the process of being trained to become driving examiners, of which 18 are for test centres in Scotland.
The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
On 20 September 2022, the DVSA launched its latest campaign to recruit another 136 driving examiner posts; 8 of these posts are intended for test centres in Scotland.
Since the commencement of the recovery recruitment campaigns, waiting times for car practical driving tests have reduced by 1.5 weeks (based on the DVSA’s data at the end of August 2022).
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency's plan to recruit 300 additional driving examiners, how many additional driving instructors been recruited as on 20 September 2022.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
Driver testing services were significantly disrupted during the pandemic, which has led to a high demand for learners who are now wanting to take their driving test.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can, including recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The first recovery recruitment campaign was launched on 10 February 2021. Since then, 285 driving examiners have entered testing, of which 20 were in Scottish test centres.
In addition, there are 147 recruits who are in the process of being trained to become driving examiners, of which 18 are for test centres in Scotland.
The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
On 20 September 2022, the DVSA launched its latest campaign to recruit another 136 driving examiner posts; 8 of these posts are intended for test centres in Scotland.
Since the commencement of the recovery recruitment campaigns, waiting times for car practical driving tests have reduced by 1.5 weeks (based on the DVSA’s data at the end of August 2022).
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency began its recruitment of 300 additional driving examiners.
Answered by Katherine Fletcher
Driver testing services were significantly disrupted during the pandemic, which has led to a high demand for learners who are now wanting to take their driving test.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as it can, including recruiting more than 300 driving examiners across Great Britain. The first recovery recruitment campaign was launched on 10 February 2021. Since then, 285 driving examiners have entered testing, of which 20 were in Scottish test centres.
In addition, there are 147 recruits who are in the process of being trained to become driving examiners, of which 18 are for test centres in Scotland.
The DVSA’s examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.
On 20 September 2022, the DVSA launched its latest campaign to recruit another 136 driving examiner posts; 8 of these posts are intended for test centres in Scotland.
Since the commencement of the recovery recruitment campaigns, waiting times for car practical driving tests have reduced by 1.5 weeks (based on the DVSA’s data at the end of August 2022).
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the DVSA’s target time is for answering customer calls on 0300 200 1122; and what its performance is against that target.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) target time for answering customer calls made to 0300 200 1122, which was set before the coronavirus pandemic, is 70% of calls answered within 30 seconds.
Pre-pandemic, the performance was 79.27% during the period 1 January to 31 August 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant disruption to DVSA services with the customer service centre receiving an unprecedented number of customer calls – rising, for example, to around 30,000 extra calls each month during June, July and August 2021, which has inevitably impacted on the time taken to answer each call.
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased staff attrition/departures during 2020/21, with the call centre operating with an average of 10 fewer agents than usual. The DVSA is currently undergoing a recruitment campaign to increase to the number of agents, which will improve the service standard.
The exceptionally high call volumes during the pandemic, and the fall in agent numbers, resulted in a performance of 40.88% during the period 1 January to 31 August 2020, and 38.27% for the same period this year.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has set response time targets for correspondence with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) welcomes correspondence from ministers and hon members about issues for which the DVSA is responsible, either electronically or by post.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency aims to respond to letters and emails it receives within 10 working days.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what methods of communication are available to (a) Ministers and (b) hon. Members for corresponding with the chief executive of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) welcomes correspondence from ministers and hon members about issues for which the DVSA is responsible, either electronically or by post.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency aims to respond to letters and emails it receives within 10 working days.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on support for private ferry companies affected by the economic effect of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Coronavirus outbreak is among the biggest challenges our transport industry has ever confronted, and I am grateful for the sustained efforts by ferry operators in running crucial services to support the continued flow of freight. The Government announced an unprecedent package of financial measures worth £350 billion to support companies through these challenging times and a full range of support schemes have been made available to UK businesses. My department is working closely with maritime operators to consider how these apply to them.
In addition, on 24 April we announced a package of funding to support lifeline services and critical freight routes. This includes up to £10.5m for lifeline services to the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight, up to £17m for critical freight routes between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and support for up to 26 critical freight routes between Great Britain and mainland Europe.
We will continue to work closely with industry to monitor the implementation of these measures to continue these vital services.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing horses to use pedestrian and cycle paths as shared paths.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Shared use routes are designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists. Signs are prescribed in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 to indicate a route shared by horses as well, and it is for local traffic authorities to determine for themselves if this is desirable or practical, taking into account the possible impacts on each road user group.