Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people participated in a diversionary course as a result of a road traffic offence in each of the last five years; and what proportion of such people were subsequently prosecuted for a further offence.

The number of participants in a diversionary course in the last five years is published by the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS). Their website gives the details as follows:

2012 963,627

2013 1,017,158

2014 1,355,796

2015 1,403,555

2016 1,390,880

We have no record of how many participants have since reoffended. However, the Department for Transport, in conjunction with the Road Safety Trust, has commissioned an evaluation of the NDORS speed awareness course, which is the most commonly awarded diversionary course. This evaluation will look at a number of aspects of the speed awareness course, including the impact of the courses on reoffending rates.