DRIVING STANDARDS
AGENCY News Release (DSA 22/09) issued by COI News Distribution
Service on 29 April 2009
The Driving
Standards Agency (DSA) today launched a consultation proposing
measures to improve the Driver Certificate of Professional
Competence (CPC) scheme which affects professional bus, coach and
lorry drivers.
DSA Chief Executive, Rosemary Thew, said: "Driver CPC is an
important scheme which is designed to improve road safety by
ensuring that those who drive professionally have the best
training available.
"Our proposals aim to make the Driver CPC scheme more
efficient by reducing the number of last minute test cancellations
and clarifying the criteria for test vehicles. We are encouraging
as many people as possible to share their views with us on the
proposed plans so that we can make well informed decisions that
will help to improve the scheme".
The proposed improvements include:
* clarifying which vehicles can be used for CPC tests;
* introducing a minimum three clear working day wait before an
unsuccessful candidate can re-take their test;
* introducing a minimum cancellation notice period of three clear
working days for theory or practical test without losing the fee;
* giving examiners an explicit right to refuse to conduct a
theory or practical CPC test where a candidate has failed to meet
relevant requirements; and to forfeit their fee in those circumstances
* introducing a Trainer Booking Facility for theory and practical
CPC tests;
* requiring candidates to pass the CPC theory test before being
eligible to book the CPC practical test;
* requiring 'acquired rights' drivers holding old-style
paper driving licences to exchange them for photo-card licences as
part of the process for being issued with a driving qualification card.
The consultation document is available at: http://www.dsa.gov.uk/Consultation.asp?id=SXF97F-A78318C9&cat=619
The consultation opens on 29 April and closes on 23 July.
For more information please contact Pamela Matthews at DSA's
Press Office on 0115 936 6137 or email pamela.matthews@dsa.gsi.gov.uk
Notes to Editors:
1. The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is an executive agency * of
the Department for Transport.
2. The DSA's vision is "Safe Driving for Life"
with an overall mission to contribute towards a Government target
of achieving a 40% reduction in riders and drivers killed or
seriously injured in road accidents, in the age group up to 24
years, by 2010.
3. Current information on road casualties is available from the
Department for Transport website: http://www.dft.gov.uk
4. The Agency's aim is to promote road safety through
setting standards for drivers, riders and trainers, testing
drivers and riders fairly and efficiently, maintaining the
registers of Approved Driving Instructors; Large Goods Vehicle
Instructors; Fleet Trainers; Driving Instructor Trainers and Post
Test Motorcycle Trainers; supervising Compulsory Basic Training
(CBT) for learner motorcyclists; and driver education and the
provision of learning resources.
5. We are a Trading Fund with planned turnover of £190 million in
2009/10, largely funded through fees and revenue from other road
safety initiatives. We are a national organisation delivering
tests from over 400 driving test centres and 140 theory test Centres.
6. DSA employs over 2,700 staff, of which some 2,000 are driving
examiners based at over 400 test centres across mainland Great
Britain. In 2007/2008 the Agency conducted 1.8 million practical
tests for car drivers, over 95,000 vocational tests and 94,000
motorcycle rider tests. A total of 1.7 million theory tests were
carried out at 158 centres. At the end of the year there were
around 43,600 people on the Register of Approved Driving Instructors.
7. DSA was one of the first Government Agencies to introduce an
online booking service. Candidates can book and manage their
theory and practical test appointments on line at http://www.direct.gov.uk/drivingtest
* Executive agency:
An executive agency is semi-detached from its parent department
and manages its own budget with freedom from ad hoc, day to day
intervention and much of central, government-wide regulation. They
are run under the organisation and direction of a Chief Executive
recruited through open competition. An executive agency has
accountability for the performance of specific operational tasks
as a corporate unit, including focused performance targets set by
the parent department and personal accountability of the chief
executive for performance.
* Trading Fund:
A trading fund is a means of financing trading activities
undertaken by Government that would previously have been financed
by annual appropriation from Parliament. A trading fund permits
the establishment of a self-accounting unit that remains under the
control and management of Ministers and accountable to Parliament
through Ministers, but has greater freedom to manage its financial
affairs. Effectively that means the trading fund body can use its
income to settle its liabilities and retain year-end cash balances.
Establishing the trading fund does not alter the Agency's
constitutional position and it remains part of the Department for Transport.