Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he made of the effect his policy on issuing licences to drive an articulated vehicles, without requiring a licence for a smaller vehicle, on road safety.

Road safety remains of paramount importance, and we are already working with training providers to explore options for an industry-led accreditation scheme for trailer training. This could offer a standardised training and assessment approach, keeping driving and towing skills current and of a high standard.

The reversing exercise of HGV driving tests and the uncoupling and recoupling exercise of the lorry and trailer test will still be tested but separately by third party assessors. This will enable the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to carry out more on-road tests without compromising the overall standard of driving required to pass the test. The DVSA is working with the training industry to develop the necessary robust accreditation, assessment and audit processes.

One of the changes announced is to enable new drivers to take a category C+E test without having to take a category C test first. Existing category C licence holders will still need to pass their C+E practical test to demonstrate their competency to drive these larger vehicles.

The DVSA does not hold information on the number of people who have booked or cancelled a trailer training course as individuals book these courses directly with the training provider. The DVSA stopped conducting B+E tests from 20 September.

We have made provision in the regulations for post implementation review of the change in the rules, with the first review after three years. We will gather data during that period and monitor the impact on road safety and make changes if needed in the light of that review.