Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2025 to Question 98632, how many visits the DVSA has made to retailers selling e-scooters; and how many incidences the DVSA have recorded of e-scooters being sold illegally or without proper guidance of legal restrictions.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows the number of retailers the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has checked from March 2022 to April 2025.
2022-2023 | 93 |
2023-2024 | 58 |
2024-2025 | 47 |
The table below shows many incidents DVSA has recorded of e-scooters being sold illegally or without proper guidance of legal restrictions, for the same time period.
2022-2023 | 79 |
2023-2024 | 41 |
2024-2025 | 42 |
Please note, high level of non-compliance found in 24-25 FY is due to poor levels of compliance being found in the on-line marketplace. In that year DVSA’s market surveillance unit (MSU) looked into higher proportions sold in on-line markets due to apparent shifts in the way such items are sold.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what interactions the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has had with food delivery companies in reference to vehicles used by delivery drivers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) recognises that last-mile delivery, including food delivery services, presents specific safety and compliance challenges. To address these challenges, DVSA has engaged with representatives from the sector and continues to collaborate on the development of guidance and best practice, including hosting a last mile delivery summit.
Operational enforcement activity is also undertaken where appropriate, particularly in relation to light commercial vehicles used within this segment.
In addition, DVSA does support police investigations – for example, by conducting technical assessments of modified “last-mile” fast-food delivery bicycle fitted with electric motors.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the APPG for Cycling and Walking's report entitled Unregulated and Unsafe: The Threat of Illegal E-Bikes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government recognises the concerns raised in the APPG report about the safety of e-bikes which do not comply with regulations and the risks associated with battery fires.
The Product Regulation and Metrology Act which received Royal Assent in July, created the powers to allow Government to change regulations to respond to emerging technologies, including e-bikes, batteries and conversion kits.
The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many registered a) petrol vehicles, b) diesel vehicles, c) electric vehicles, d) hybrid vehicles and e) classic vehicles were there in Edinburgh South West constituency in the last 5 years and the last 10 years.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We do not readily hold new vehicle registration figures at the requested geographic level.
Information on licensed vehicles broken down by Upper and lower tier local authorities and lower super output areas (LSOA) are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/vehicle-licensing-statistics-data-tables
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many individuals had their status as Approved Driving Instructors removed by DVSA due to (a) being involved in reselling driving tests and/or (b) sharing there official driving test-booking login details with third parties in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023, (iii) 2024 and (iv) 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country.
While the majority of driving instructors who use DVSA’s booking services do so as intended, DVSA takes action to prevent learner drivers from exploitation and limit opportunities for misuse of the online booking services. DVSA have a zero tolerance for those who exploit learner drivers. In addition, DVSA will investigate any breaches reported to them.
Since the pandemic DVSA has been aware of third-party websites selling driving test appointments at inflated prices and does not approve use of such applications.
In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since the introduction of the revised terms and conditions, DVSA has removed access for 346 businesses and driving instructors for misuse of the booking service.
The new terms and conditions make it clear that driving instructors and businesses must not book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching. They also stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that they have no intention of that particular learner driver using.
DVSA does not hold any information about ADIs sharing their official test booking login details and DVSA has not removed any approved driving instructors (ADI) from the ADI Register due to being involved in the reselling of practical driving tests. However, as stated above, where misuses of the booking service have been detected, individuals have had their access removed, to prevent the selling of tests.
DVSA has also deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly and will continue to remove the accounts of those who are proven to have broken the rules.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency was made aware that Approved Driving Instructors were involved in reselling driving tests; and what steps she took to address the issue.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country.
While the majority of driving instructors who use DVSA’s booking services do so as intended, DVSA takes action to prevent learner drivers from exploitation and limit opportunities for misuse of the online booking services. DVSA have a zero tolerance for those who exploit learner drivers. In addition, DVSA will investigate any breaches reported to them.
Since the pandemic DVSA has been aware of third-party websites selling driving test appointments at inflated prices and does not approve use of such applications.
In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since the introduction of the revised terms and conditions, DVSA has removed access for 346 businesses and driving instructors for misuse of the booking service.
The new terms and conditions make it clear that driving instructors and businesses must not book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching. They also stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that they have no intention of that particular learner driver using.
DVSA does not hold any information about ADIs sharing their official test booking login details and DVSA has not removed any approved driving instructors (ADI) from the ADI Register due to being involved in the reselling of practical driving tests. However, as stated above, where misuses of the booking service have been detected, individuals have had their access removed, to prevent the selling of tests.
DVSA has also deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly and will continue to remove the accounts of those who are proven to have broken the rules.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the extent to which Approved Driving Instructors are sharing their official driving test-booking login details with third parties in order to profit from the resale of tests.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country.
While the majority of driving instructors who use DVSA’s booking services do so as intended, DVSA takes action to prevent learner drivers from exploitation and limit opportunities for misuse of the online booking services. DVSA have a zero tolerance for those who exploit learner drivers. In addition, DVSA will investigate any breaches reported to them.
Since the pandemic DVSA has been aware of third-party websites selling driving test appointments at inflated prices and does not approve use of such applications.
In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since the introduction of the revised terms and conditions, DVSA has removed access for 346 businesses and driving instructors for misuse of the booking service.
The new terms and conditions make it clear that driving instructors and businesses must not book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching. They also stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that they have no intention of that particular learner driver using.
DVSA does not hold any information about ADIs sharing their official test booking login details and DVSA has not removed any approved driving instructors (ADI) from the ADI Register due to being involved in the reselling of practical driving tests. However, as stated above, where misuses of the booking service have been detected, individuals have had their access removed, to prevent the selling of tests.
DVSA has also deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly and will continue to remove the accounts of those who are proven to have broken the rules.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the extent to which Approved Driving Instructors are involved in reselling driving tests.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country.
While the majority of driving instructors who use DVSA’s booking services do so as intended, DVSA takes action to prevent learner drivers from exploitation and limit opportunities for misuse of the online booking services. DVSA have a zero tolerance for those who exploit learner drivers. In addition, DVSA will investigate any breaches reported to them.
Since the pandemic DVSA has been aware of third-party websites selling driving test appointments at inflated prices and does not approve use of such applications.
In January 2023, DVSA changed the terms and conditions for using the booking service to help prevent anyone from selling tests at profit.
On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since the introduction of the revised terms and conditions, DVSA has removed access for 346 businesses and driving instructors for misuse of the booking service.
The new terms and conditions make it clear that driving instructors and businesses must not book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching. They also stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that they have no intention of that particular learner driver using.
DVSA does not hold any information about ADIs sharing their official test booking login details and DVSA has not removed any approved driving instructors (ADI) from the ADI Register due to being involved in the reselling of practical driving tests. However, as stated above, where misuses of the booking service have been detected, individuals have had their access removed, to prevent the selling of tests.
DVSA has also deployed bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly and will continue to remove the accounts of those who are proven to have broken the rules.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has considered the potential impact of amending the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 to introduce a statutory minimum uptime for all publicly accessible charge points, including slow on-street and residential chargers.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since November 2024, the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 have required operators to achieve an average reliability of 99% across their network of rapid chargepoints of 50 kW and above. We continue to monitor the public charging network, the impact of the regulations, and whether further steps may be required.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of whether a disproportionate burden is placed on local authorities and National Highways to identify and reunite cats injured or killed on the road, in the absence of a statutory duty for drivers to report such collisions.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are no plans to amend section 170 of the Road Traffic Act to make it mandatory for drivers to report road collisions involving cats.
Although there is no obligation to report all animal deaths on roads, drivers should, if possible, make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals, such as cats, and advise them of the situation.
Since June 2024, all cats in England over 20 weeks of age must be microchipped and registered on a compliant database, unless exempt or free-living. This will make it easier for National Highways and local authorities to reunite cats with their keeper.