{"value":{"id":1230331,"askingMemberId":242,"askingMember":null,"house":"Commons","memberHasInterest":false,"dateTabled":"2020-09-01T00:00:00","dateForAnswer":"2020-09-07T00:00:00","uin":"83659","questionText":"To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test appointments on 14 September will be made available in (a) Poole, (b) Southampton and (c) Salisbury; for what reason it is not possible to reopen the test centre at Gillam road in Bournemouth to help meet demand; and if he will make a statement.","answeringBodyId":27,"answeringBodyName":"Department for Transport","isWithdrawn":false,"isNamedDay":true,"groupedQuestions":[],"answerIsHolding":false,"answerIsCorrection":false,"answeringMemberId":4668,"answeringMember":null,"correctingMemberId":null,"correctingMember":null,"dateAnswered":"2020-09-07T00:00:00","answerText":"<p>From 14 September 2020, there will be a up to approximately 700 practical driving tests available in Poole, Southampton and Salisbury. The number of tests available is likely to change depending on driving examiner availability.</p><p> </p><p>The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will be extending the period in which tests are available from 6 weeks to 18 weeks ahead from 14 September 2020. This will add over 375,000 more test appointments between 14 September 2020 and the end of January 2021.</p><p> </p><p>The DVSA will not re-open Bournemouth driving test centre (DTC) to help meet demand. On 12 August 2019, the DVSA took the difficult decision not to re-open Bournemouth DTC. This is because the property is in a poor state and the DVSA judges the cost of repairing it would be too high.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p>","originalAnswerText":"","comparableAnswerText":"","dateAnswerCorrected":null,"dateHoldingAnswer":null,"attachmentCount":0,"heading":"Driving Tests","attachments":[],"groupedQuestionsDates":[]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Questions/1230331","method":"GET"}]}