What steps her Department is taking to improve access to practical driving tests in Barrow and Furness constituency; and whether she has made an assessment of trends in the level of (a) waiting times, (b) test centre capacity and (c) examiner availability in the area.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is intensifying its efforts to reduce waiting times and improve access to driving tests, including in the Barrow and Furness area. DVSA is continuing with its recruitment campaigns for new driving examiners. For those test centres serving the Barrow and Furness area, DVSA has recently employed five new driving examiners, who are currently in training, and upon successful completion, will start testing in June. A further examiner is due to start training shortly and, if successful, will start testing in July. A full-time DE can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system. The table below shows the number of tests booked and available at the driving test centres (DTCs) serving the Barrow and Furness constituency as of 11 May 2026. Driving test centre (DTC)Booked tests (as of 11 May 2026)Tests available in 24 week booking window (as of 11 May 2026)Barrow-in-Furness2931Blackpool2,793667Preston2,818127 Between June 2025 – April 2026, at the DTCs above, DVSA conducted 1,056 additional car practical driving tests in overtime, when compared to the equivalent overtime scheme between June 2024 – March 2025. This increase can largely be attributed to the additional test allowance scheme the agency introduced in June 2025.