§ Mr. Donald Stewartasked the Secretary of State for Transport what is the average waiting period for a driving test in (a) the Western Isles, (b) the Scottish mainland and (c) the United Kingdom generally.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe average waiting period for an L-test in Great Britain is eight weeks and in Scotland as a whole it is three to four weeks. In the Western Isles demand for L-tests is very low and does not justify manning driving test centres full time. Tests have been conducted approximately every three months by examiners from the mainland. The next visit will be from 28 February to 4 March. The marked reduction in waiting periods generally will in future enable more frequent visits to be made to the Western Isles, if necessary.