§ Mr. BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many appeals have been received by the DSA over the past two years against the refusal to grant second trainee licences; how many of these have been(a) successful, (b) unsuccessful and (c) are still pending; and of those appeals which have been unsuccessful, if he will place in the Library a list of grounds on which appeals have been rejected. [30187]
§ Mr. JamiesonIn the two years ending 31 December 2001, there were 387 appeals made against the registrar's decision to refuse a second trainee licence; 282 cases were withdrawn by the appellant before the appeal was determined, generally because the appellant had completed the qualifying process before the appeal was considered; and 24 cases are still pending.
In the remaining 81 cases, independent Appeals Boards recommended to the Secretary of State refusing the applications, citing one of two grounds for dismissing appeals. These were accepted by the Secretary of State.
The first ground was that the purpose of a trainee licence was to afford a reasonable opportunity—normally six months—to prepare for the third part of the qualifying examination via experience working as an instructor. A trainee licence was not an alternative to registration, and must not be allowed to become so.
The second ground was that the appellant had failed a third attempt at the third part of the qualifying examination, therefore the person would need to start the qualifying process from the beginning, and was not eligible to hold a trainee licence.