Written questions by Jardine.

What steps her Department is taking to pursue an aviation safety agreement with the European Union to (a) allow the mutual recognition of flight crew licences and (b) reduce the barriers faced by UK nationals seeking to convert their European Union Aviation Safety Agency licences.

The Government has been clear that it will work to reset the relationship with Europe, to strengthen ties and tackle barriers to trade. Agreements on UK-EU licensing recognition must be established through the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and agreed by the UK-EU Specialised Committee on Aviation Safety. The Government and the UK Civil Aviation Authority, as the UK’s specialist independent aviation regulator, are continuing to seek expansions to the Aviation Safety Chapter of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement where appropriate. An effective aviation licensing and approvals regime that supports UK aviation remains a priority for us, and the UK is keen to establish closer cooperation on personnel licensing where possible to ease the current burden on UK and EU personnel and industry.

What steps her Department is taking to help prevent the reselling of block-booked driving tests.

As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks. The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times. On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain. Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK. To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system. DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing. On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses. On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.

What steps her Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for driving tests.

As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks. The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times. On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain. Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK. To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system. DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing. On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses. On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.

What the waiting time for a practical driving test is at each of the test centres in Scotland.

As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks. The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times. On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain. Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK. To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system. DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing. On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses. On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.

What is the average waiting time for a practical driving test in the UK.

As of April 2025, the average waiting time for a car practical driving test in Great Britain was 22.3 weeks. The attached Excel document shows the average waiting time for a car practical driving test at each driving test centre in Scotland, as of 26 May 2025. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times. On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain. Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK. To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, DVSA continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country and has announced further measures to review the driving test booking system. DVSA deploys enhanced bot protection to help stop automated systems from buying up tests unfairly. These applications, however, are constantly evolving and changing, and DVSA’s work on this is ongoing. On 28 May 2025, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. Views are being sought from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties on changes which aim to prevent learner drivers being exploited by those who resell tests at a higher price.This consultation follows the agency’s recent call for evidence. The call for evidence, about the rules and processes for booking and managing practical car driving tests, received almost 27,000 responses. On 6 January 2025, DVSA introduced new terms and conditions for use of the service driving instructors and trainers use to book and manage practical driving tests for their pupils. Since this change DVSA has issued 44 warnings, 120 suspensions, and closed 270 business accounts.

For what reason her Department has chosen to decline to support more open access services along the Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley via Newcastle route.

As detailed in the 4 February response to the Office of Rail and Road, the Department did not support Lumo’s applications to operate additional Open Access services between London Kings Cross and Newcastle, and to extend existing Newcastle/Edinburgh services on to Glasgow, due to concern over the capacity of the East Coast Main Line and the consequential detrimental effects on reliability; and also the impact of the revenue reduction to existing services on the route, which would diminish revenue and thus increase subsidy from taxpayers to the railway as a whole. Access to the network, however, is currently a matter for the Office of Rail and Road in its capacity as independent regulator, and it will now consider the Department’s response alongside those from other consultees, and its statutory duties before making, a decision.

What steps she is taking to help increase the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

We have committed £200m funding in the Autumn budget to support charging infrastructure rollout. This is on top of over £6 billion in private investment committed out to 2030, and bolsters existing grants and funding to support chargepoint installation. There are now over 74,000 public chargepoints in the UK, with almost 20,000 new chargepoints added and a 45% increase in rural chargepoints in 2024. On 24 December, we announced a range of measures to remove barriers to chargepoint rollout, including to improve grid connections for chargepoints.