debates/debates2025-09-11b conversation_6
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: debates/debates2025-09-11b conversation_6

Lewis Atkinson:What steps she is taking to increase the availability of driving tests. \p Simon Lightwood: We are working hard to ensure that young people can book driving tests so that they can access opportunity in their local areas. We are recruiting and training more driving examiners, doubling examiner training capacity and offering overtime payment incentives. This is producing good results, with over 10,000 more tests a month now available than there would have been without the Secretary of State’s plans. There is more work to do, and we are committed to getting it right. \p Lewis Atkinson: Learner drivers in Sunderland are fed up of waits of around 22 weeks for a driving test. In that time, they are often facing higher costs and barriers in accessing job opportunities. Can the Minister tell the House what steps he is taking to reduce driving test waiting times in Sunderland, and when he expects those waits to fall? \p Simon Lightwood: Obviously, there were some issues with the close of the South Shields driving test centre, but no capacity was lost as a result of that. We recognise the impact that high waiting times are having on learner drivers across the country, including in the constituency of Sunderland Central, and the importance of helping learner drivers pass quickly. On 8 September, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency launched its latest recruitment campaign, which aims to recruit additional driving examiner resource to provide much-needed test capacity in Sunderland, Gateshead, Gosforth and Blythe. \p Wera Hobhouse: One of my constituents wrote to me this week about the difficulties she is facing rebooking her driving test. The nearest slot that she could find was in Swansea, two hours away from Bath. When she tried the 6 am rush, she faced a queue of 22,000, and when she finally reached the front, the site failed. Alongside test availability, will the Government review the quality and reliability of the booking system? \p Simon Lightwood: We are absolutely committed to driving down the delays in these bookings. I would be delighted to chat further with the hon. Member to discuss the specific problems within her area. \p Greg Smith: When driving tests came up at Transport questions in May, it was revealed that the wait time for a driving test on average was up, from 17 weeks in July 2024 to 22 weeks now. It has since been revealed that many test centres around the country have reached the maximum legal limit of a 24-week wait. Will the Minister acknowledge that for thousands of people up and down the country waiting for a driving test—waiting for that step on the ladder to get their first job or to college through the freedom of driving—it is simply not good enough for the Secretary of State to have pushed back the Government’s new target to fix this to 2026? Real people need real answers now, so will he redouble the efforts to get the wait time at least back down to the point it was at when the last Government left office? \p Simon Lightwood: We inherited a broken system in which many learner drivers found themselves stuck in a frustrating limbo, unable to ditch their L-plates. We instructed the DVSA to take further measures this year, and we are beginning to see early signs of improvement. We promised more tests and we have delivered more tests. The DVSA carried out over 20,000 more tests between June and August this year, and the pass rate remains at the highest it has been since May 2021. There is still more to be done and we will do just that. \p Greg Smith: The Minister is right that there is still more to be done—there is a lot more to be done. He inherited a broken system from his own predecessor in the Department for Transport, under whom the problem got significantly worse over the last year.

I do not think the Minister is listening to the country. I cannot be alone in having an inbox full of emails from constituents complaining about the wait time to get themselves or, indeed, their children a driving test. My constituent Sarah wrote:

“Young people’s work opportunities are significantly reduced by not being able to drive,”

particularly in rural England, in this case Steeple Claydon in my constituency. Sarah sets her alarm for 5.45 every day to try to secure a test, and the best she has managed is next February. Will the Minister apologise to everybody up and down the land who sets their alarm early because the Government are making the situation a lot worse? \p Simon Lightwood: I hope the hon. Gentleman explained to his constituent the broken system that his party left for this country. We are absolutely determined to drive down waiting times. Thanks to the proactive measures taken by the Secretary of State we have, as I said, increased tests by 10,000 a month.