Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce delays at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in processing driving licence decisions where medical evidence has been submitted.

No specific assessment has been undertaken on delays affecting drivers from West Dorset or the South West. There are no delays in applications for a licence where there is no medical condition involved. The DVLA’s target for driving licence applications is to dispatch 95 per cent within three working days for straightforward online applications and 90 per cent within ten working days for straightforward paper applications. In the current financial year, the DVLA has achieved 100 per cent for online applications and 99.9 per cent for paper applications.

Driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) must be investigated before a licence can be issued can take longer as the DVLA is often reliant on information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued. For 2025/26 the average time to make a licensing decision in cases where a medical condition(s) must be investigated before a licence could be issued to 16 March is 56.67 days.

The DVLA is currently experiencing an increase in both the volume and complexity of driving licence applications from people with one or more medical conditions. To keep up with growing customer demand and to offer a better service, the DVLA is updating its online service and is launching a new casework system that will deliver significant improvements to drivers with medical conditions. These enhancements, alongside the recruitment of additional staff to deal with medical applications and answer telephone calls, will deliver real improvements for customers.