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Written question asked by Derek Thomas (Conservative) on Thursday, 1 February 2024, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 February 2024 (named day). It was answered by Guy Opperman (Conservative) on Tuesday, 6 February 2024 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Driving Tests: Penzance

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is taking steps to reduce car practical driving test waiting times in Penzance; and if the DVSA will increase the number of available time slots for those tests in that area.

Answer

To increase the number of available test slots, the DVSA is conducting tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays; they are also buying back annual leave from driving examiners. They have deployed all eligible managers and administrative staff back on the front line to do driving tests from the beginning of October until the end of March.

Since April 2021, measures put in place by the DVSA to reduce waiting times for its customers, together with the ongoing recruitment of driving examiners, is creating on average over 46,900 extra car test slots each month.

As of 29 January 2024, there were 533,785 car practical driving tests booked, and 130,965 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.

As of 29 January 2024, there were 19 driving tests available to book within the 24-week booking window at Camborne driving test centre (DTC); the next nearest DTC to Penzance.

The DVSA continues to monitor the deployment of its driving examiner resource. Where it identifies DTCs that require additional resource, if possible, it will redeploy staff to meet that demand.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
12647
Session
2023-24
Subjects
Driving tests Waiting lists Penzance
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk