The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency have repeatedly shown itself unfit for purpose when it comes to delivering driving tests and administering the register of approved driving instructors, and an independent enquiry should be launched.

The terms of the enquiry should allow access to all DVSA premises, computer systems and documents. Current and former DVSA staff, ADIS, PDIs and Candidates should be interviewed and allowed to give evidence.

The remit of the enquiry should be to determine if the DVSA is fit to continue to administer driving tests and the ADI register.

The DVSA are now attempting to shift the blame for its appalling lack of planning which has resulted in massive L test waiting lists to Driving Instructors! while trying to increase the waiting time after an L test failure to 1 month increasing cost and time for members of the public. As the pass rate is below 50% this means that most people will have to wait an additional 2 months before passing.

After years of stating the test is between the candidate and the DVSA, they are now trying blame ADIs. If ADIs are going to be monitored on average driver faults per test, we demand an automatic right to be present during a full debrief for every driver fault, on every test.

The initial points of reference for the enquiry should include but not be limited to: 
if it is an institutionally racist or sexist organisation or one that discriminates against less able people both in theory and practical tests, if it wilfully disregards freedom of information, data protection and disability legislation in its business practices, its failure to adequately consult with ADIs and its relationship with NASP.

Possible remedies to be considered are if any or all of these functions should be privatised or managed by a new independent agency, and if that agency should or should not contain any former DSA or DVSA staff within its management team.

Contrary to its statutory duty to consult, it refuses to consult with Approved Driving Instructors, and Potential Driving Instructors who pay £300 or £140 respectively to be registered and only consults with "NASP", an unelected body constituted of organisations that the majority of instructors in the UK aren't members of and have to pay additional subscription fees should they they want to be.

After it being pointed out that DVSA repeatedly failed to consult with Instructors  on its register, it began sham consultations such as the most recent one (March 2023) where the majority of respondents weren't in favour of any changes, and yet it still intends to press ahead regardless!!

The DVSA repeatedly shows institutional racial bias against BAME candidates as shown by its own pass statistics, so much so that it now refuses to routinely publish pass rates linked to ethnic origins, saying they are inaccurate!

Can you imagine the outcry if any other Government Agency tried to do the same?

The DVSA flouts disability discrimination legislation until forced to comply by the parliamentary ombudsman and has consistently failed to make reasonable adjustments for the delivery of the theory test when required. The only adjustment it does make that of an Oral Language modifier is almost impossible to obtain and often of little use for those with other needs. 

 The DVSA consistently closes test centres, often test centres with a higher pass rate causing the public increased cost due to longer driving lessons to travel to the next nearest test centre area. If a test centre closure is appealed often in the local press and involving an MP the DVSA shelve the closure until they can quietly close it down later with less media exposure.

Standards Check scores and ORDIT scores of the senior members of NASP organisations should undergo statistical analysis by the enquiry to determine if they align with the remainder of the ADI register or have been inflated by the DVSA and what if any help/training DVSA personnel have given them contrary to the Civil Service Code.