Speeches by Greenwood.

“I thank the shadow Minister for his consideration of the draft instrument. I welcome his support. I will respond to him in writing, if I may, on the technical specifications that he mentioned. I am aware of the comments that were made when the instrument was debated in the other place; I will be meeting the DVSA shortl…”

“I congratulate the hon. Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller) on securing this debate, and I thank him for continuing to raise the issue of the London Road level crossing in his constituency. I recognise the concerns that he raises on behalf of local residents, and I appreciate the strength of those concerns…”

“I had forgotten that would happen at 7 pm. The introduction of four East West Rail passenger trains per hour on top of existing passenger and freight services would represent a significant uplift in the rail traffic passing over the level crossing. On one level, that is a benefit, including to the hon. Gentleman’s cons…”

“I am happy to give the hon. Member that assurance, and I certainly would not disagree with the Rail Minister. I can also assure him that the proposed road diversions and any further enhancements required to minimise the impact of these diversions will be funded as part of the East West Rail project and that the local a…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Road Transport (International Passenger Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Mr Efford. The draft instrument will amend domestic legislation in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to underpin the UK’s i…”

“Sorry, the past target?”

“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…”

“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 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…”

“To come back to the broader point and then to yours, Catherine, as the Chair said, in terms of supply, increasing the supply of tests is the most important, and that is going to be achieved through recruiting and retaining more driving examiners and providing more tests—some of that is asking people to work overtime an…”

“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…”

“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.”