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Written question asked by Nia Griffith (Labour) on Wednesday, 30 March 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 April 2022 (named day). It was answered by Trudy Harrison (Conservative) on Thursday, 21 April 2022 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Driving Tests: Llanelli

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has plans to expand testing capacity at Llanelli Driving Test Centre to tackle the backlog of tests since March 2020.

Answer

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) recognises there is a high demand for learners who are wanting to take their practical driving test following the suspension of routine driver training and testing during the pandemic.

The DVSA is working hard to provide as many practical driving test appointments as possible and has a number of measures in place to do this.

These include:

  • offering a national recovery allowance and annual leave buy back to examiners;
  • asking all those qualified to conduct tests, but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests;
  • conducting out of hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends; and
  • asking recently retired driving examiners to return to testing.

As of 31 March 2022, driving test waiting times at Llanelli is 3 weeks.

The DVSA has a live recruitment campaign covering Llanelli, and has recently completed a campaign to recruit Welsh speaking driving examiners. The DVSA is also launching a new national campaign to recruit an extra 161 examiners across Great Britain to help meet the increasing demand for driving tests. This is in addition to its previous campaign to recruit more than 300 additional examiners.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
150121
Session
2021-22
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Driving tests Waiting lists Llanelli
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk