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Driving Tests: Training

Asked by Joe RobertsonConservativeDepartment for TransportTabled Answered 13 April 2026UIN 123375

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2026 to Question 118043, what steps the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is taking to improve its ability to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment activity for driving examiner roles.

Answered by Simon Lightwood

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) monitors the performance of recruitment campaigns, including:

  • monitoring pass rates for each of the stages in the recruitment process and comparing these between campaigns

  • average times between advert and job offers being made, and offers being made and start date.

The performance in these areas have improved in the past 12 months. For example, before November 2025, the average time DVSA took to advertise and onboard potential driving examiners (DE) into training was 16 weeks.

In December 2025, DVSA improved its recruitment process and the average time DVSA now takes to onboard potential DEs is 13 weeks. Further proposals should see this reduce by another 2-3 weeks for future campaigns.

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