Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of removing the requirement to hold a provisional bus, coach or HGV licence to undertake the theory and off-road modules of the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence test.

In April, the Department launched a consultation on amending licensing restrictions following requests from industry, the consultation ran for 8 weeks and closed on 5 June. It consulted on measures to amend licensing restrictions which would enable 18- to 20-year-olds to drive a bus and coach over 50km when driving a regular service and enable some of the tests required to be passed in order to gain a driver certificate of professional competence (DCPC) to be taken before a provisional licence is issued.

Officials are reviewing responses to the consultation and the Department will publish a response in due course.