Driving Tests

HC Deb 29 March 1990 vol 170 cc243-4W

Mr. Andy Stewart

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what conclusions have been reached, as a result of the trial carried out by his Department, about conducting driving tests on Saturdays.

Mr. Atkins

The trial was very successful and confirmed that Saturday testing is a practical proposition at many

	1978–79	1989–90
	Number of dwellings1	Rent income2	Number of dwellings1	Rent income2
		£ million		£ million
Ashford	9,637	2.962	7,607	10.393
Canterbury	8,039	2.578	6,375	7.386
Dartford	7,882	2.643	5,971	6.979
Dover	9,209	3.172	6,564	8.123
Gillingham	5,090	1.490	3,935	5.142
Gravesham	9,425	3.163	7,642	8.562
Maidstone	10,158	3.854	8,354	7.789
Rochester	13,850	5.202	38,880	11.274
Sevenoaks	7,855	2.389	61	0.075
Shepway	4,868	1.475	4,149	5.279
Swale	9,989	3.176	7,440	7.995
Thanet	8,302	3.240	47,162	46.802
Tonbridge	7,697	2.416	6,450	7.099
Tunbridge Wells	7,352	2.269	5,650	6.128
1 Average of start year and end year stock.
2 Gross of rent rebates.
3 Stock at beginning of year, authority planned complete stock disposal at year end.
4 Figures for 1989–90 not available; 1988–89 figures given.

centres. In the first year the service was used by some 30,000 candidates, and contributed three to four days to the reduction in waiting times. I have decided to continue the service on a permanent basis, and to extend it to all centres where it is feasible to do so.