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<p>The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is to reduce car
practical driving test waiting times, whilst upholding road safety standards.</p><p>
</p><p>To increase the number of car practical driving test slots available, including
in the Portsmouth South constituency, the DVSA deployed all eligible managers and
administrative staff back on the front line to do driving tests from the beginning
of October 2023 until the end of March 2024, which created over 145,000 additional
test slots. Eligible managers and administrative staff will continue to spend a portion
of their time conducting car tests in the coming months to help continue to reduce
waiting times.</p><p> </p><p>To further increase the number of available test slots,
including in the Portsmouth South constituency, it is conducting tests outside of
regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays, and buying back annual
leave from driving examiners.</p><p> </p><p>Since April 2021, measures put in place
by the DVSA to reduce waiting times for its customers, together with the ongoing recruitment
of driving examiners, is creating on average over 48,300 extra car test slots each
month.</p><p> </p><p>The average waiting time in March 2024 for a car practical driving
test in Great Britain was 17.1 weeks, and in the Portsmouth South constituency it
was 22.4 weeks. To address the continued high demand for tests in the South, the DVSA
is asking driving examiners from areas with lower waiting times to travel and test
in centres with higher waiting times. This is in addition to recruiting over 160 driving
examiners in the areas where waiting times are highest, including the Portsmouth South
constituency.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to know the number of people waiting
to be allocated a driving test slot.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to know the
time between requesting (seeking) and receiving (booking) a driving test slot, or
the time between requesting (booking) and receiving (taking) a driving test slot.</p><p><strong>
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