Driving Tests: Staff

(asked on 14th November 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will set out which driving test centres will benefit from the help of military driving examiners under the partnership with the Ministry of Defence.


Answered by
Simon Lightwood Portrait
Simon Lightwood
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 24th November 2025

The measures the Secretary of State for Transport, announced on 12 November are designed to make the practical driving test booking process fairer, providing all learners with equal access to the booking system and ensuring that everyone pays the prescribed fee.

The decision follows a call for evidence and a public consultation that many in the industry responded to. Further detail on the rationale will be provided in the consultation report which will be published in due course.

The introduction of the 10-day cancellation period is intended to encourage responsible behaviour from learner drivers to consider their test readiness and to notify DVSA in good time if they are unable to attend.

The number of learner drivers who fail to attend their driving test represents less than 3% of all tests taken which accounts for around 60,000 tests. With unprecedented demand for tests DVSA is doing all it can to further reduce unused test slots and encourage learners to inform them so that the test slot can be utilised.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) driving examiners that are supporting DVSA will be based at the driving test centre with the highest demand near their MoD base or home location.

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