Driving Licences: Health
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the accessibility of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for applicants seeking updates on medical driving licence cases.
Answered by Simon Lightwood
In 2025/26 the average time to make a licensing decision in cases where a medical condition(s) needed to be investigated before a licence could be issued was 56.66 days.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is currently reviewing the content of the medical questionnaires sent to doctors and healthcare professionals to streamline and simplify them where possible. The DVLA is also considering opportunities to streamline existing processes to reduce the need for GP involvement where appropriate and safe to do so.
The DVLA offers a webform service for applicants seeking updates on their application and plans to enhance the online information available to customers, to provide customers with application progress updates via the DVLA’s driver and vehicle account. The online platform will also enable more customers to transact online and allow the DVLA to increase the use of secure emails, reducing the time to respond to customers and improving turnaround times.
However, the DVLA recognises that not all customers can or want to access services online. Customers will be able to continue to contact the DVLA by telephone or in writing and paper application facilities remain available.
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