Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2026 to Question 120920, what estimate she has made of the conversion rate from application to appointment in Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency driving examiner recruitment campaigns since July 2024; and what steps her Department is taking to improve conversion rates at each stage of the recruitment process.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has run 22 driving examiner recruitment campaigns since early 2021, nine of these have been launched since June 2024. DVSA analyses the success rates for each campaign and adapts its approach for the next one to improve the quality of candidate attracted initially, make sure it is selecting those with the necessary skills and minimise any aspects of the process which are causing applicants to drop out.  The process has been modified several times in the intervening period to maximise the numbers of people with the right skills and aptitudes being made a job offer.

DVSA attracts large numbers of applicants to the role of a driving examiner who are not always suited to it.  DVSA has a high drop out rate during the application process and the sift and selection process also removes significant numbers due to candidates not demonstrating the appropriate level of driving ability.

Across the nine campaigns since June 2024, DVSA received 16,331 completed applications and has made 1,139 job offers so far, with 724 people starting their training with DVSA and more with start dates agreed.

DVSA continues to make job offers from reserve lists from campaign 16 (March 2025) up to campaign 21 (December 25) and has yet to start making offers for people from campaign 22 as the assessments are still ongoing.