Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency
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DSA consults on driver CPC administrative arrangements
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.
