MSA Newslink November 2021

News
Delegated testing to be extended
as emergency services respond to
challenges from the pandemic
After a consultation period that ran over
the summer, the Government has
announced that it will allow NHS
ambulance services to carry out driving
tests for their staff.
It will also allow cross-testing between
the emergency services and Ministry of
Defence, so that each service can offer
testing to others at different times.
The regulations covering this will be
amended as soon as possible, but as it is
simply a matter of changing existing
regulations it will not be subject to
parliamentary scrutiny.
The background to the decision was
formed during the pandemic and the
need to respond to several issues arising
from it.
While the driving test is conducted by
the DVSA, some organisations are
allowed to conduct driving tests for their
own staff. This includes the Ministry of
Defence (MoD) and police and fire
services. For regulatory reasons it is
known as ‘delegated testing’.
The MoD is slightly different because it
has its own powers to conduct tests, but
DVSA works closely and collaboratively
on them.
The consultation looked at extending
the delegated testing arrangements that
are available to police and fire services to
NHS ambulance services and foundation
trusts. It is also about allowing the
services to conduct driving tests for one
another – known as ‘cross-testing’.
The DVSA has been looking into
allowing this for some time, as it had
received requests from police and fire
services to allow greater co-operation
between the services. More recently, the
MoD has also expressed an interest in
this idea.
The issue was brought to a head by
the COVID-19 pandemic, however. It
showed that there was a greater need for
delegated testing to be available to NHS
ambulance services in particular.
Although DVSA was able to provide tests
for ambulance drivers and paramedics
during the national lockdowns, allowing
greater delegated testing would have
provided more options for getting new
drivers on to the frontline and additional
resilience.
78 responses were received via the
online consultation, and one by e-mail.
This consultation was of limited
interest to the general public, with only
eight responses from people who
classified themselves as such. It was
aimed at key stakeholders in the
emergency services. 12 responses were
from trainers of delegated authorities, 45
were from representatives from
ambulance services and nine came from
the police/fire service. The final four
came from other sources.
Possibly the most important responses
came from several NHS ambulance
services, including heads of driver
training and recruitment teams, and from
police and fire services.
In particular, the Chairperson for the
Driver Training Advisory Group (DTAG)
for UK ambulance services said that
each Trust was “fully supportive” of both
proposals. He explained that delegated
testing would give Trusts the ability to
plan and programme their driver
recruitment knowing that timely testing
could be arranged, without the influence
of external factors. He suggested that the
proposal for cross-testing would “provide
a level of resilience never before seen in
the emergency services providing an
additional layer of assurance to the
public that services are being actively
protected.”
While the MoD does not respond to
such consultation documents as a
general rule, it made it known that it was
supportive of the proposal.
Key question
The most important question was, ‘do
you agree that NHS ambulance services
should be able to be authorised to
conduct driving tests?’
Under this proposal the NHS
ambulance services who employ drivers
of ambulances and paramedics will be
able to apply to conduct driving tests for
such staff. This will mean that they can
arrange test appointments internally and
in line with when the candidate
completes their training. 94 per cent of
respondents agreed with this proposal;
sex per cent disagreed.
Comments expressed included “…
allowing the NHS Ambulance Services to
conduct delegated driving tests will
greatly improve our success rate and
recruitment process”, and “If the NHS
were allowed to do delegated driving
tests, it would save them money and give
greater control over the progress of each
learner.”
Only five people disagreed with the
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NEWSLINK n NOVEMBER 2021