Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to speed up the process by which the Civil Aviation Authority issues private pilots' licenses.

The number of flight crew licence applications received by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has grown by more than 25 per cent this year. The CAA has responded by recruiting and training more licensing officers, increasing overtime, and pre-screening applications to ensure all the required information has been received. The CAA is also working with key stakeholders to identify improvements which will help to simplify and speed up the application process for both commercial and private pilots.