Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2026 to Question 18160 on Buses: Driving Tests, how many applications for category D1 practical driving tests were made in each year since 2019; and what the average waiting time for such a test was in each of those years.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not hold data on the number of applications for category D1 practical driving tests.

Category D1 is a sub-category of category D. Practical driving test slots are initially booked as category D; the actual vehicle category is not confirmed until a few days before the test.

The answer of 16 July to Question 18160 provides the number of D1 minibus tests conducted by DVSA and by delegated examiners in each calendar year for which data is available.

There is no separate waiting time for category D1 tests because category D1, category D and lorry tests are all classed as vocational testing.

The below table shows the average waiting time for vocational tests for each financial year since 2019.

Please note for 2019, 2020 and 2021, DVSA calculated waiting times for vocational driving tests across all driving test centres, including part time and remote test centres. For the following years of 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, DVSA calculated waiting times by using the official measure which includes permanent test centres only. Permanent centres may be excluded from time to time, for example if they close temporarily.