Speeches by Greenwood.

“It is particularly difficult in London and the south-east, where obviously wage rates are higher, so it is more difficult to entice people to become driving examiners. Those are quite shocking figures—to go from people who express an interest and apply for the job to people who actually end up working in the job. I wan…”

“There is a really big question about whether it would be appropriate that someone could be a driving instructor and a driving examiner, and it would require primary legislation to change it. It is one of the things that could be considered as part of an overall package of measures.”

“There is a problem with that in that the legislation specifically says that you cannot be both a driving examiner and a driving instructor.”

“It is fair to say as well—Loveday can correct me if not—that because the DVSA’s IT system is relatively old, as we already discussed earlier in the session, there is an intention to have an improved technology system, which might allow further protection measures to be put in place. If you log on to—I don’t know if thi…”

“The current target, as you heard earlier, is in the previous business plan, which is to reduce waiting times to seven weeks. It is clear that the DVSA is not going to reach that by the end of this year. You could talk some more, Loveday, about the measures that you have put in place to try to get us towards that. Obvio…”

“We welcome that, Chair. From our perspective, it has been a really useful session. As I said at the start, this is a priority. We want to fix it. It is not an acceptable situation for your constituents who are waiting, and we want it to change. This has certainly been helpful for us. It is useful scrutiny and plays a v…”

“It feels very strange.”

“Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the future of roads.”

“Thank you, Chair, and Committee members. I am pleased that the Committee is doing this work. It is really helpful. Waiting times for car practical driving tests are far too long. I spend a lot of time replying to letters from Members of Parliament on behalf of their constituents, and they are right to be raising it. Th…”

“First of all, on behalf of our Department and the DVSA, yes, I am really sorry that learner drivers are facing that problem. It is not a situation that anyone would want to encounter. As we heard in the earlier session, this is something that is really important to people. For many people it can be the thing that allow…”

“Absolutely. We are looking at road safety in the round. We know that there are particular groups, including young drivers, who are particularly at risk, so this could be one of the things that becomes a measure that falls out of that work.”

“Clearly, it is really important that the driving test is a road safety measure. It is about making sure that people have the skills and knowledge they need for a lifetime of safe driving, so it is important that we review what the content of the test is. Those of us who passed our driving test a long time ago will know…”

“Go on, Emma.”

“As you have already heard, the price of the test has not changed since 2009. One of the implications of that is that, as the way the DVSA operates is that the fees charged should cover the cost of delivering the service and at the moment they don’t, the DVSA is, effectively, losing money on offering driving tests. Ther…”

“There are just two things to say, Chair. One is that the system has allowed swaps to happen for a legitimate reason and encouraged it. I am happy to say a bit more about that in terms of driving instructors. It is not unusual for driving instructors to book tests on behalf of their candidates, although most people book…”

“We are absolutely considering all options in an attempt to clamp down on unscrupulous behaviour. We want people to be able to book a test at the price that the test is meant to be and not to have to pay a premium in order to be treated fairly. Absolutely, we are considering what our options are to be able to do that.”

“It also means that the text to remind you to come to your test and what you need to bring with you doesn’t necessarily get through to the person who is coming to take the test because they booked it through a third party, which again just adds to the wastage.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Sir Mark. I congratulate the hon. Member for Witney (Charlie Maynard) on securing this debate on railway connectivity between Witney, Carterton, Eynsham and Oxford. It is clear that he has been a passionate advocate for restoring the rail link, and I tha…”

“I thank the hon. Member for that clarification. However, he will appreciate that £600 million —even with a significant private sector contribution —is not an insignificant amount. I understand that delivering the scheme would require funding from central Government—I guess that is the purpose of his debate—but he will …”

“My hon. Friend is a great champion for businesses in her constituency. We recognise the important role that smaller local bus operators can provide in delivering high-quality bus services; they know their customers and their communities. In addition to the requirement to consider SMEs as part of the franchising process…”