Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help prevent companies adding premiums to third party booking of driving tests.

DVSA has agreed with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) that 36 defence driving examiners (DDE) will carry out driving tests. The DDEs will be based at the driving test centre (DTC) with the highest demand near either their MOD base location or where they live. These locations are in England.

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country.

Alongside military support, DVSA is introducing new rules to tackle unfair booking practices that have allowed bots and resellers to profit at learners’ expense.

Further details on the steps announced 12 November, can be found on GOV.UK: Mirror, signal, manoeuvres: Military driving examiners mobilised to cut test backlog - GOV.UK

DVSA is continuing with recruitment campaigns across the country to provide as many tests as possible. A full-time driving examiner (DE) can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.

For Arbroath and Dundee DTCs, whilst one candidate did not successfully complete their training earlier this year, DVSA successfully recruited an additional DE for Dundee DTC during the summer.

DVSA is launching a new recruitment campaign for DE positions at Dundee in the coming weeks, with the aim for successful candidates to be in place by early 2026.

Additionally, to further support test availability in Dundee & Arbroath, DVSA are transferring an examiner to Dundee DTC. DVSA anticipate that their transfer will be finalised by early 2026 as well.