Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency on increasing the availability of heavy vehicle ADR tests.

ADR examinations are delivered by third-party organisations who hold approval from the Secretary of State, so this provision does not use any of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency testing resource. Those providers advise they have capacity to meet the demands for the examinations nationally, including in your constituency and there is no significant backlog of drivers wishing to qualify.

To provide support for fuel deliveries, the Government has granted an extension of ADR validity for those drivers whose certification would expire between 27 September 2021 and 31 December 2021 until 31 January 2022. This is one of a package of measures we have introduced to address vocational driver shortages.

The Government has also enlisted military tanker drivers to assist with fuel deliveries and extended the provision of remote training delivery to help support both ADR drivers and providers in the future.