Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of extending the two-year validity period for driving theory tests in light of the backlog of practical driving tests.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) recognises there is a high demand for learner drivers who are wanting to take their car practical driving test. As of 22 May 2023, there were 546,135 tests booked and 54,808 tests available within the next 24 weeks.

As a result of the measures the DVSA has already taken, overall, since April 2021, the agency has created an estimated 813,000 additional test slots. On average, the DVSA is creating approximately 35,300 extra car test slots each month.

The validity period of the theory test certificate is 2 years.

Candidates may choose to not take a practical driving test for various reasons. It is therefore not possible to estimate how many theory test certificate have expired before a practical test was taken.

It is important road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.

The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure a candidate’s road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation and the Government has no plans to lay further legislation to extend it.

Ensuring new drivers have current relevant knowledge and skills is a vital part of the preparation of new drivers, who are disproportionality represented in casualty statistics. Learners will therefore need to pass another theory test if their certificate expires.