Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people are waiting for a practical driving test in (a) England, (b) Herefordshire and (c) North Herefordshire.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has put in place a number of measures to increase practical driving tests. These include offering overtime and annual leave buy back to 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, and conducting out of hours testing (such as on public holidays). The DVSA has also started a recruitment campaign to increase the number of examiners. The aim is to increase testing capacity and reduce the backlog as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining a COVID-secure service for customers and examiners.

As at 10 May 2021, the average waiting time for a practical driving test is (a) England 13.4 weeks, (b) Herefordshire (Hereford driving test centre) 15 weeks, (c) North Herefordshire (Ludlow driving test centre) 14 weeks.

The DVSA is currently recruiting up to 300 new driving examiners. If this number of driving examiners are recruited, the number of practical driving tests will increase by up to 40,000 each month.