To ask the Minister for Infrastructure for his assessment of staffing levels in MOT test centres.

The recruitment and retention of DVA vehicle examiners has become increasingly more difficult for several reasons including higher salaries being offered for qualified mechanics by other public and private sector organisations. The number of applications received for vehicle examiner recruitment competitions has fallen and there has been a marked increase in the number of vehicle examiners who have resigned from the DVA to take up employment elsewhere. As a result, the DVA has a number of vehicle examiner vacancies across its network of test centres.

In 2023, a grading review for DVA vehicle examiners was conducted, recommending they should be regraded to the next higher grade. A further vehicle examiner recruitment competition will launch on 19 February 2024, advertising the higher regraded salary. In addition, the Executive has agreed to allocate £688million to allow public sector pay deals to be progressed and we are committed to ensuring pay awards are implemented as quickly as possible.

These measures will hopefully attract more applicants to fill staff vacancies across the DVA’s network of test centres.