Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what key performance indicators are used by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to assess the effectiveness of driving examiner recruitment campaigns; what target value is attached to each metric; and what the recorded performance against those targets was for each campaign.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues driving examiner (DE) recruitment across the country to provide as many tests as possible; a full-time DE can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.

The table below provides updated data, where possible, for the recruitment campaigns listed in the Answer, 21 April 2026, to Question 124880.

[note 1] - No of applicants invited to interview and driving assessment are the same as this was an assessment centre.

[note 2] – The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to recruit from merit lists for these live recruitment campaigns. The final numbers for the recruitment campaigns shown are therefore not yet known.

For any given campaign listed, the difference between those recruited and placed on a training course, and the number of applicants that successfully passed training for that campaign, reflects the number of applicants who did not complete training, including those who failed or withdrew. As some of these campaigns are still live, and commenced less than 12 months ago, it is not possible to provide data on those who left the Agency within 12 months.

All driving examiner vacancies are publicly advertised on Civil Service Jobs. Recruitment comes out of a central budget, so total costs of each individual campaign cannot be fully derived.

The Answer, 24 February 2026, to Question 113313 shows the number of vacancies advertised for campaigns from July 2024 to December 2025. For the February 2026 campaign, 80 vacancies were advertised. All campaigns, apart from May 2023 and February 2026 campaigns, advertised for roles nationally, rather than for particular regions. The May 2023 campaign was advertised as ‘National (except London and South East England)’ and the February 2026 campaign advertised for positions in ‘Southern England, East Midlands, East Anglia & London’.

DVSA monitors the performance of recruitment campaigns, including:

• monitoring pass rates for each of the stages in the recruitment process and comparing these between campaigns
• average times between advert and job offers being made, and offers being made and start date.

In April 2026, DVSA changed the way it assesses prospective DEs. Working with the Government Recruitment Service’s (GRS) occupational psychologists, the assessment process was redesigned, introducing online tests aimed at identifying applicants with the specific skills needed to succeed, and to mitigate the use of AI within the application process.

DVSA continues to monitor the pass rates for each stage and bring in applicants as quickly as possible.