Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2022 to Question 410, how many slots within the 24-week booking window for car tests are allocated to (a) DrivingScout and (b) other similar private companies.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Practical car driving test slots are not allocated to, or reserved for, private companies.
When a test slot is booked, it is not possible to link the named candidate to a driving school or private company.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog of practical driving tests; and whether he has plans to extend the validity of theory test certificates to over two years in response to that backlog.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) operates a 24-week booking window for car tests and there are test slots available within this window.
The DVSA recognises the high demand for learners wanting to take their practical driving test following the suspension of routine driver training and testing during the pandemic. It is committed to increasing the availability of practical driving tests by recruiting more than 300 driving 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, conducting out of hours testing, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return.
The DVSA has resumed the number of driving tests per day to seven for each full-time examiner. This was reduced to six a day during the pandemic.
It is important road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.
The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure a candidate’s road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it.
Ensuring new drivers have current relevant knowledge and skills is a vital part of the preparation of new drivers, who are disproportionality represented in casualty statistics. Learners will therefore need to pass another theory test if their certificate expires.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to review the provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1998.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department for Transport will be conducting a call for evidence on parts of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It is expected that we will be in a position to publish this in the first half of 2022.
While details are still being worked up as to its scope, it is expected that it will include drink and drug driving offences, and the offence of failure to stop and report.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the timeliness of correspondence (a) with non-UK citizens applying for a driving or provisional driving licence and (b) to return additional documentation provided by those applicants.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays for customers. The DVLA has also been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
The DVLA has introduced additional online services and recruited more staff. The DVLA is urgently securing extra office space to house more staff to help reduce waiting times while providing future resilience and business continuity.
The DVLA understands the impact that delays can have on people’s everyday lives and is working as quickly as possible to process paper applications and return people’s documentation to them.
The DVLA recognises the effect that the delays are having on drivers who have been revoked on medical grounds and additional resource is being utilised to process cases as quickly as possible.
However, DVLA is often reliant on receiving information from medical professionals to ensure drivers can meet the required medical standards which can add to delays.
The DVLA deals with around 750,000 medical driver licensing cases each year. The length of time taken to deal with an application depends on the medical condition(s) involved and whether further information is required from medical professionals. Although doctors play an important role in the driver licensing process, the DVLA is responsible for considering the medical information supplied in the context of safe driving and deciding whether a licence can be issued.
When a decision has been taken to issue a driving licence, the DVLA writes to the applicant to inform them that they should receive the licence within ten working days.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average length of time is between receiving documentation of a medical decision to restore a driver's licence and retuning the licence to the driver; and what steps he is taking to improve correspondence in that process.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays for customers. The DVLA has also been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
The DVLA has introduced additional online services and recruited more staff. The DVLA is urgently securing extra office space to house more staff to help reduce waiting times while providing future resilience and business continuity.
The DVLA understands the impact that delays can have on people’s everyday lives and is working as quickly as possible to process paper applications and return people’s documentation to them.
The DVLA recognises the effect that the delays are having on drivers who have been revoked on medical grounds and additional resource is being utilised to process cases as quickly as possible.
However, DVLA is often reliant on receiving information from medical professionals to ensure drivers can meet the required medical standards which can add to delays.
The DVLA deals with around 750,000 medical driver licensing cases each year. The length of time taken to deal with an application depends on the medical condition(s) involved and whether further information is required from medical professionals. Although doctors play an important role in the driver licensing process, the DVLA is responsible for considering the medical information supplied in the context of safe driving and deciding whether a licence can be issued.
When a decision has been taken to issue a driving licence, the DVLA writes to the applicant to inform them that they should receive the licence within ten working days.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of the DVLA casework backlog on the return of licences revoked on medical grounds; and what steps he is taking to improve the efficiency of DVLA.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays for customers. The DVLA has also been working with a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.
The DVLA has introduced additional online services and recruited more staff. The DVLA is urgently securing extra office space to house more staff to help reduce waiting times while providing future resilience and business continuity.
The DVLA understands the impact that delays can have on people’s everyday lives and is working as quickly as possible to process paper applications and return people’s documentation to them.
The DVLA recognises the effect that the delays are having on drivers who have been revoked on medical grounds and additional resource is being utilised to process cases as quickly as possible.
However, DVLA is often reliant on receiving information from medical professionals to ensure drivers can meet the required medical standards which can add to delays.
The DVLA deals with around 750,000 medical driver licensing cases each year. The length of time taken to deal with an application depends on the medical condition(s) involved and whether further information is required from medical professionals. Although doctors play an important role in the driver licensing process, the DVLA is responsible for considering the medical information supplied in the context of safe driving and deciding whether a licence can be issued.
When a decision has been taken to issue a driving licence, the DVLA writes to the applicant to inform them that they should receive the licence within ten working days.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what oversight his Department (a) has and (b) has historically had of the recruitment process for the (i) Director and (ii) Deputy Director of the Marine Administration at the Isle of Man Ship Registry.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Although the department are responsible for the oversight and enforcement of performance standards of all the Red Ensign Group (REG) members, the appointment of Directors or Deputy Directors by a REG member is a matter for the administration and government of the territory concerned.
The department are not involved in the recruiting or appointment process other than when the REG member specifically seeks the advice of the department.
On this occasion, the Isle of Man administration has not sought such advice.