Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for driving tests in (a) Plymouth, (b) the South West and (c) England.

Since April 2021, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has created over one million extra car test appointments by recruiting new examiners, conducting out-of-hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends, asking all those qualified to conduct tests but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return. On average, this has created approximately 40,000 extra car test appointments each month.

As of 4 September 2023, there were 560,121 car practical driving tests booked, and 58,382 driving tests available nationally within the 24-week booking window. The table below shows the number of tests booked and available within the 24-week booking window as of 4 September 2023 in (a) Plymouth, (b) the South West and (c) England.

Driving examiner recruitment campaigns continue to be successful but, like many employers, the DVSA is finding the job market extremely competitive. As it moves through each recruitment campaign, the DVSA will continually review and make changes and improvements to its recruitment and selection process, and training courses.

The DVSA’s latest recruitment campaign to recruit another 52 driving examiner posts closed in June 2023; 10 of these posts are intended for test centres in the South West.