Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many civil servants employed by their Department work in roles primarily focused on (a) transgender policy, (b) diversity, (c) equity and (d) inclusion; and at what annual salary cost.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not routinely collate information on specific words and collating this information would come at a disproportionate cost. Information on spending and staffing can be found in the Department's annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse was of feasibility studies conducted by their Department for projects that did not proceed in the last five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Feasibility studies are a routine part of the Department’s approach to assessing potential transport projects, and the associated costs are managed within individual programme budgets rather than held in a single collated dataset. These studies are conducted across a wide range of programmes, and where work does not lead to a project progressing, the expenditure remains part of normal project development activity. Producing a total figure for feasibility studies undertaken over the past five years for projects that did not proceed would therefore require a disproportionate manual review of programme‑level records.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department’s total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees for the last financial year was nil and (ii) other similar membership subscriptions was nil.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of 31 October 2025, there are 0 staff in DfTc who have been absent for six months or more due to mental health.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how often are driving test examiners audited to ensure they are following ID verification procedures prior to an examination.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.
At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.
To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.
DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.
Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.
The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.
Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.
Date period | Practical Test Impersonations |
1/10/2024 to 30/09/2025 | 647 |
1/10/2023 to 30/09/2024 | 388 |
1/10/2022 to 30/09/2023 | 442 |
1/10/2021 to 30/09/2022 | 146 |
1/10/2020 to 30/09/2021 | 0 |
As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.
Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.
The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.
As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what checks are required of examiners when verifying photo ID before a driving test begins.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.
At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.
To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.
DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.
Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.
The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.
Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.
Date period | Practical Test Impersonations |
1/10/2024 to 30/09/2025 | 647 |
1/10/2023 to 30/09/2024 | 388 |
1/10/2022 to 30/09/2023 | 442 |
1/10/2021 to 30/09/2022 | 146 |
1/10/2020 to 30/09/2021 | 0 |
As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.
Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.
The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.
As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what disciplinary measures are in place for driving examiners who fail to follow ID verification protocols.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.
At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.
To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.
DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.
Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.
The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.
Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.
Date period | Practical Test Impersonations |
1/10/2024 to 30/09/2025 | 647 |
1/10/2023 to 30/09/2024 | 388 |
1/10/2022 to 30/09/2023 | 442 |
1/10/2021 to 30/09/2022 | 146 |
1/10/2020 to 30/09/2021 | 0 |
As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.
Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.
The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.
As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the potential risk posed to road safety by illegitimate licences being issued through fraudulent tests.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.
At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.
To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.
DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.
Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.
The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.
Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.
Date period | Practical Test Impersonations |
1/10/2024 to 30/09/2025 | 647 |
1/10/2023 to 30/09/2024 | 388 |
1/10/2022 to 30/09/2023 | 442 |
1/10/2021 to 30/09/2022 | 146 |
1/10/2020 to 30/09/2021 | 0 |
As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.
Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.
The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.
As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cases of impersonation or fraudulent driving tests have been detected in the past five years.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.
At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.
To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.
DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.
Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.
The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.
Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.
Date period | Practical Test Impersonations |
1/10/2024 to 30/09/2025 | 647 |
1/10/2023 to 30/09/2024 | 388 |
1/10/2022 to 30/09/2023 | 442 |
1/10/2021 to 30/09/2022 | 146 |
1/10/2020 to 30/09/2021 | 0 |
As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.
Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.
The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.
As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has identified any driving test centres with unusually high rates of suspected impersonation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure Great Britain’s roads remain among the safest in the world, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has robust measures in place to stop people using false identities when taking a driving test, to prevent illegitimate licences being issued.
At the start of the driving test, all driving examiners (DE) carry out thorough identification and documentation checks to satisfy themselves of the person’s identity, the validity of the driving licence and theory test pass certificate.
To make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate a candidate, DVSA has worked in partnership with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to give DEs access to an enlarged photograph of the candidate, as shown on the driving licence, to help the examiner decide if the person presenting for test is the correct candidate. If a candidate fails to satisfy the examiner that they have complied with the requirements, the examiner will, under legislation, refuse to take the test.
DVSA takes very seriously any allegations of fraudulent activity, including candidate impersonation. It has a dedicated Intelligence Threat Hub for the assessment of available information, prioritisation of investigations, and a dedicated counter fraud team to investigate such allegations.
Due to the nature of impersonation, there is not a high level at a single location, as an impersonator would be easily identified as such, if they attempted to take several tests at a single location. DVSA uses other data, such as details of the vehicle used by a suspected impersonator, to track and investigate attempts across the country.
The table below shows the number of intercepted impersonation attempts for driving practical tests from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2025. Interceptions are where DVSA colleagues have challenged the impersonator and stopped the test or a licence has been revoked if evidence of impersonation comes to light later.
Please note, practical test impersonations were included in general impersonation figures until 2021, therefore DVSA has no individual figures for this category between 2018-2020.
Date period | Practical Test Impersonations |
1/10/2024 to 30/09/2025 | 647 |
1/10/2023 to 30/09/2024 | 388 |
1/10/2022 to 30/09/2023 | 442 |
1/10/2021 to 30/09/2022 | 146 |
1/10/2020 to 30/09/2021 | 0 |
As a civil service department, DVSA has certain principles and processes that must be followed, and all employees must meet the standards of conduct and behaviour set out in the Civil Service code and the DVSA’s Staff handbook.
Effective performance is expected of all employees. Addressing poor performance fairly, effectively and promptly is critical to maintaining a professional service, and DVSA, as with other civil service departments, has poor performance policy and guidance in place.
The role of a DE is complex and requires rigorous training. There is a statutory requirement for DEs to undertake continuous professional development to ensure they maintain their skills. All DEs go through an extensive training regime and attend regular periodic training. This ensures they carry out all of the test properly. In addition, there is a robust monitoring system in place and DE performance is regularly assessed.
As civil servants, DEs, are required to undertake fraud awareness training and regular refresher training on this topic.