Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how frequently the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency audits approved providers delivering Module 3A of the HGV driving test; and how many providers have been found not to meet the required standards in each year since 2021.

Module 3a providers are subject to Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) quality assurance audits. These are ordinarily conducted on an annual basis and include checks of organisational controls, records, processes and assessor standards. Where non-compliance is identified, DVSA may require corrective action, undertake follow-up activity or, in serious or repeated cases, withdraw approval. Fewer than 10 organisations have had their approval withdrawn for non-compliance during the last five years.

Officials continue to engage regularly with representatives of the haulage, training and other relevant sectors on vocational driver testing and licensing matters.

The Post-Implementation Review of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2021 was published in 2025. The review concluded that the removal of staged access to Category C+E licences had been successful in reducing vocational test waiting times and improving access to testing opportunities. It found no evidence that the change had adversely affected road safety and recommended that the regulations be retained.

The removal of staged access to Category C+E licences is now well established across the sector and has become the standard approach for the training and testing of drivers seeking Category C+E entitlement.