Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog of practical driving tests; and whether he has plans to extend the validity of theory test certificates to over two years in response to that backlog.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) operates a 24-week booking window for car tests and there are test slots available within this window.

The DVSA recognises the high demand for learners wanting to take their practical driving test following the suspension of routine driver training and testing during the pandemic. It is committed to increasing the availability of practical driving tests by recruiting more than 300 driving examiners, 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, conducting out of hours testing, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return.

The DVSA has resumed the number of driving tests per day to seven for each full-time examiner. This was reduced to six a day during the pandemic.

It is important road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.

The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure a candidate’s road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it.

Ensuring new drivers have current relevant knowledge and skills is a vital part of the preparation of new drivers, who are disproportionality represented in casualty statistics. Learners will therefore need to pass another theory test if their certificate expires.