BRIEFING PAPER Number SN02844, 21 January 2016
By Louise Butcher
Driving instruction
Inside: 1. Background 2. Requirements to become an ADI 3. Significant changes since 1997
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Number SN02844, 21 January 2016 2
Contents
Summary 3 1. Background 4 2. Requirements to become an ADI 7 Numbers 8 3. Significant changes since 1997 9 3.1 Hazard Perception Test (HPT) 9 3.2 Road Safety Act 2006 9 3.3 Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Act 2009 10 3.4 Modernising driver training, 2013-16 11
Contributing Authors: Louise Butcher, Transport Policy
Cover page image copyright: David Muir – flickr/Creative Commons
3 Driving instruction
Summary
This briefing paper summarises the law surrounding Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs), changes affecting them since 1997 and current proposals for further reform. The major changes to driving instruction instituted under the Labour Government were the introduction of the Hazard Perception Test in 2004 and new rules to allow for the suspension of ADIs who are awaiting removal from the Register. This latter change followed a Private Member’s Bill in 2009 on the back of a sexual assault case. The Coalition Government legislated to level the playing field for ADIs with a disability, but other proposed reforms since 2013, such as replacing the current three qualifying tests with a vocational qualification; improving the current tests; and replacing the trainee licence with a requirement for trainee instructors to be accompanied by ADIs when providing paid instruction, have yet to be implemented. Other papers on driver licensing and training can be found on the Roads Topical Page of the Parliament website.
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1. Background
Driver training probably started life as a commercial venture in Great Britain in about 1909-10 when a number of driving schools and training organisations opened their doors. 1 One of the first was the British School of Motoring Ltd. (still in existence as BSM). Stanley Roberts, who founded BSM in October 1910, is generally considered to have given the first driving lesson in Great Britain in south London, near Peckham: Offering a “Popular Course of Mechanism and Driving”, Roberts’s first pupil was, tellingly, a former coachman, whom he trained to become a chauffeur. […[ Unlike today, when the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) says the average learner needs 52 hours of tuition before they’re ready to take what has become a demanding driving test, Roberts’s early driving courses lasted just four days, placing special emphasis on “correct procedure, discretion and behaviour”. The cost of a lesson then? About 10 shillings (50p) for an hour…2 The requirement for drivers to pass a test in order to legally drive a vehicle was introduced in 1935 under section 6 of the Road Traffic Act 1934. This precipitated the first serious attempt to co-ordinate the ways in which people learned to drive, though it Both the RAC (Royal Automobile Club) and the MSA (Motor Schools Association) formed their own independent registers of ‘qualified’ driving instructors and schools, at about the same time in June 1935. Each organisation laid down its own version of the basic teaching skills and examinations that were needed to register.3 Driving tests were suspended for the duration of World War 2 and later during the Suez Crisis in 1956. 4 The end of petrol rationing after Suez coincided with cheaper motor cars and instructors “saw the opportunity to buy their own cars and set up in business on their own; instructors who had previously been employed saw the opportunity for a larger slice of the cake to meet the new and ever-increasing demand for driving lessons”.5 The burgeoning industry prompted questions in the House as to whether instructors should be properly licenced. In one such exchange in November 1958 the then Minister, Sir Richard Nugent, said that the driving test “is the final arbiter of a driving instructor's qualification to teach” and that the matter “was very carefully considered by the Road Safety Committee in 1947 when it was decided that it was not necessary to do anything further”.6 Section 23 of the Road Traffic Act 1962 finally made provision for the Secretary of State to compile and maintain “a register of persons
1 Prof. Peter Russell, A Brief History of Driver Education in the UK, February 2002 [published on the DERF website] 2 “100 years of the driving lesson”, Daily Telegraph, 19 August 2010 3 op cit., A Brief History of Driver Education in the UK 4 op cit., A Brief History of Driver Education in the UK (examiners were redeployed as fuel rationing officers) 5 op cit., A Brief History of Driver Education in the UK 6 HC Deb 12 November 1958, c356 5 Driving instruction
approved by him as qualified to give instruction in the driving of motor vehicles (in this section referred to as the register of approved instructors)”. This ‘voluntary’ register was criticised during the passage of the Act on the grounds that it would not achieve very much. During the Lords Committee stage Lord Molson argued that it was “one of those compromises between complete laissez faire and rigid control which in some circumstances may be wise, but which in this case, I think, is likely to be completely ineffectual”.7 The Minister, Lord Chesham, said that the provision was necessary as the Government had “tried on several occasions to get the industry to put its own house in order, and to set up its own uniform standards and some kind of control system which would operate right across the whole field of the industry. Unfortunately, we were not able to persuade it to take action of that kind”.8 He agreed that while there was “nothing compulsory in what is proposed”, that “we believe that the public will welcome this move and that learner-drivers will seek out the instructors who have qualified and can draw the learner's attention to the fact”. Further, that the provision would help secure improved road safety on the grounds that at present: … the public have not sufficient means of judging who are the right kind of people from whom to obtain their instruction, particularly if we are going to regard the "right kind of people" as being those instructors who will ensure that a candidate is thoroughly and properly taught what he needs to know … In short, we think this scheme will work.9 The voluntary register of approved driving instructors (ADIs) was set up in 1964. Becoming an ADI required instructors to pass stringent written and practical testing. By 1966 there were calls to make the registration of professional driving instructors compulsory. The then Transport Minister, Barbara Castle, said that discussions with the National Road Safety Advisory Council and others were ongoing and that “in the meantime … I have … decided to enlarge the scope of the register by admitting part-time instructors to it”.10 In 1970 the ADI register was made compulsory. For many years after that, the format of the ADI examination remained the same: The theory examination consisted of five essay type questions followed by thirty multiple response questions. Successful candidates were then invited to apply for a practical driving test. Only when this was passed could instructors apply to take the third part. The theory test had to be changed from its essay style format as Supervising Examiners were not able to devote the necessary time required for marking them.11
7 HL Deb 4 May 1961, c1432 8 ibid., c1442 9 ibid., c1443 10 HC Deb 4 May 1966, cc108-9W 11 op cit., A Brief History of Driver Education in the UK Number SN02844, 21 January 2016 6
The Road Traffic (Driving Instruction) Act 1984, which was largely brought into effect in May 1985, was a response to the significant growth in the sector. In financial year 1982–83 the cost of operating the ADI register was £1.18 million and by 1983 there were almost 7,000 instructors taking the written test and almost 5,000 taking the practical. The pass rates were almost 50% and 43% respectively.12 The Act made provision for more rigorous requirements such as display of instructors’ official identification documents in tuition cars; that all new trainees should be partly qualified before they are allowed to give tuition, must complete their qualifications within six months and would not be allowed to extend their trainee licence for a further six months; and tighter direct personal supervision of trainees.13 By the late 1980s the Conservative Government was considering targeting and extension of check testing; widening the syllabus and introducing a banding system in the written examination; and limiting failures in the practical tests.14 The Road Traffic Act 1988 introduced a new requirement that anyone accompanying a learner driver from October 1990 had to be at least 21 and have held a driving licence for a minimum of 3 years.
12 HC Deb 13 February 1984, cc89-90W 13 HC Deb 1 July 1985, cc8-9 14 HC Deb 11 July 1988, c9 7 Driving instruction
2. Requirements to become an ADI
The legislation relating to Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs) is set out in Part V of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Motor Cars (Driving Instruction) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1902), both as amended.15 ADIs are required to have their names entered on the ADI Register, which is administered by the Registrar, an official of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). In order to gain entry to the Register, instructors must pass a series of examinations and be ‘fit and proper’ persons, when first applying this includes passing a criminal records check. They must also be over 21 years of age and have held a full driving licence for at least three years. The Registrar has a power to remove a person’s name from the Register if the Registrar is satisfied that they have ceased to meet certain conditions including, among other things, ceasing to be a ‘fit and proper’ person, failing to pass a periodic test of competence in instruction or being disqualified from driving. A licensing scheme under section 129 of the 1988 Act enables partially- qualified instructors to gain experience in order to prepare for the final examination in the qualifying process (the test of instructional ability). Currently, any person giving paid instruction in the driving of a motor car whose name is not on the Register, or who is not licensed under section 129, is guilty of an offence. Becoming an ADI requires an applicant to pass three qualifying tests and complete the qualifying process within two years of passing the ADI Part 1 test. They are allowed three attempts at each of the ADI Part 2 and Part 3 tests. During their four year registration period instructors are also required to periodically undergo further reassessment, through a standards check, to demonstrate that they have maintained the minimum level of instructional ability to remain on the register. ADIs are graded following the standards check, based upon their level of performance. This new standards check replaced the old ‘check test’ from April 2014.16 The cost of taking all the required tests, obtaining a trainee licence and joining the ADI Register is approximately £750.17 The National Standard for Driver and Rider Training sets out the skills and requirements that the DVSA prescribes for those seeking to provide driver and rider training. Further information on ADIs can be found on the Gov.UK website.
15 the former substantially by the Road Safety Act 2006 and the Deregulation Act 2015 16 DSA press notice, “ADI check test to be replaced from April 2014”, 11 April 2013 17 Approved driving instructor (ADI) fees, Gov.uk [accessed 21 January 2016] Number SN02844, 21 January 2016 8
Numbers There has been a downward trend in the number of ADIs on the Register in recent years. DfT states that “this may be linked to a reduced demand for instructors, related to what was until recently a reducing number of car practical tests”.18 In September 2015 there were 40, 667 instructors on the ADI Register, up from the approximately 32,500 in 1997 but down on a high of around 46,500 in 2011:19
In terms of the standards check, between July and September 2015, 2,364 checks were conducted on ADIs, taking the total with a grade under the new standards (introduced in April 2014) to 13,750. Of these, 8.6% failed:20
18 DfT, Driver and rider testing and instructor statistics: Quarter 2 2015/16 (July to September 2015), 10 December 2015, p7 [CBT refers to motorcyclists, not driving instructors and is not relevant here]; the raw data is available in the relevant spreadsheets 19 ibid., and HC Deb 4 June 2007, c104W 20 ibid. 9 Driving instruction
3. Significant changes since 1997 3.1 Hazard Perception Test (HPT) The Labour Government published a number of papers between 2000 and 2003 that looked at ways of changing and improving driving instruction.21 However, the first real change under that administration came about in 2004 with the introduction of the Hazard Perception Test (HPT). In April 2003 what was then the Driving Standards Agency (DSA)22 published a consultation paper that, amongst other things, asked for views on whether the qualifying examination for ADIs should be amended in line with the higher European standards – upgrading the multiple-choice question theory test, and adding vehicle safety checks to the practical test – and whether a computer-based HPT assessment should be extended to all ADIs.23 In December 2003 the Government said that HPT would be part of the testing process for ADIs and that they must pass the new assessment within 12 months of the requirement being introduced (with a maximum three permitted attempts) or be removed from the Register.24 In January 2004 the pass period was extended form 12 months to two years and there would be no limit on the number of times the test could be taken.25 All ADIs were required to have passed the HPT by 31 December 2006. Any instructor who had not passed the test by this date could be removed from the register; there were 28 days to appeal this removal.26
3.2 Road Safety Act 2006 The Road Safety Act 2006 legislated to introduce a number of reforms to driver instruction that the Labour Government had been discussing since 2000. However, these are for the most part not yet in force. Sections 41, 43 and a minor part of section 42 and Schedule 6 have been appointed but no regulations have yet been made under them – meaning in effect that they remain inactive. These sections cover the following: • Section 41, to enable the Secretary of State to make available to interested third parties (e.g. those looking for an ADI/driving
21 DETR, Tomorrow’s roads: safer for everyone, March 2000, paras 3.23-3.29; DSA, Improving the approved driving instructor scheme, April 2001; and: DSA, Raising driving instructor standards, 5 December 2003 22 now the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) after merging with the Vehicle and Operator Standards Agency (VOSA) in 2014 23 DSA, Fees for driving tests and other matters – a consultation paper, April 2003 24 op cit., Raising driving instructor standards 25 HC Deb 14 January 2004, cc933-940 26 HC Deb 21 November 2006, c39W; the legal provisions for appealing against removal from the register are contained in sections 128 and 131 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 Number SN02844, 21 January 2016 10
school) information about training providers, for a reasonable fee;27 • Section 42, for the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 24 of Schedule 6 only, to widen the powers available to the Secretary of State when making regulations under Part 5 of the 1988 Act, including the power to make incidental and supplementary provision or different provision for different cases;28 and • Section 43, to allow the Secretary of State to set up a statutory scheme to provide assistance to those taking the test who have difficulty, for example, hearing, understanding or responding to instructions or questions.29 If they were brought into force the remaining elements of the Act, set out in section 42 and Schedule 6, would: • extend regulated instruction to all types of vehicles; • extend registration to all those involved in driver training (essentially regulating driving schools); • allow the Secretary of State to require that DVSA-approved instruction certificates are not only displayed in the car whilst instructors are giving paid instruction; but also in classrooms, on the business premises and in vehicles when used for driver training or testing; • introduce flexibility into the administrative arrangements for examinations to adapt to specific situations (e.g. where the candidate has already passed one element of the examination on a different class of vehicle) and to facilitate the introduction of technological developments (e.g. vehicle simulators); and • introduce a system of ADI training providers, approved content and charges and an appeals process. Paragraphs 6 and 7 of Schedule 6 were repealed by section 8 and Schedule 2 of the Deregulation Act 2015. The Coalition Government proposed this change to relieve the burdens on drivers with a disability applying to become ADIs. The 1988 Act as amended by the 2006 Act and incorporating the 2015 changes would introduce a common qualification process for all driving instructors and remove the requirement for holders of medically restricted licences to take an Emergency Control Assessment (ECA) before qualifying.
3.3 Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Act 2009 The Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Act 2009 entered into force on 6 July 2012.30 It was introduced as a Private Members’ Bill in February 2009 by the former Liberal Democrat MP Willie Rennie. It was designed to tackle a procedural lag between a
27 Road Safety Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2007 (SI 2007/2472) 28 Road Safety Act 2006 (Commencement No. 8) Order 2012 (SI 2012/1357) 29 op cit., SI 2007/2472 30 Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Act 2009 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2012 (SI 2012/1356); debates during the Parliamentary stages of the Bill can be found on the Parliament website 11 Driving instruction
decision to remove an ADI from the Register and that removal actually coming into force. In practice, allowing for time to consider representations, it takes a around 45 days between the Registrar notifying the ADI that the Registrar is minded to remove that ADI’s name from the Register, and that removal taking effect. In the vast majority of cases this procedure causes no difficulty. However, there was a concern that in serious cases there was a need for more immediate action, on an interim basis, to prevent an ADI continuing to give instruction during this period. There were cases of inappropriate behaviour towards pupils by ADIs where the Registrar was unable to intervene quickly and effectively. In one case, an ADI who had been convicted of a sexual offence involving a pupil was able to continue giving instruction while the deregistration process continued. The Act enables the Registrar to suspend an ADI’s registration at the same time as informing the ADI that the Registrar is minded to remove that ADI’s name from the Register. It also allows the Registrar to suspend registration where the Registrar intends to refuse an ADI’s application to extend their registration. In either case, the effect of a suspension is immediately to prevent the ADI from giving paid instruction. The power to suspend is available only in the most serious cases; for example, where an ADI has been convicted of a serious criminal offence, such as a sexual or violent offence, or where the ADI has repeatedly failed to pass periodic tests of their instructional ability, or their ability and fitness to drive, or they have achieved a very low mark in such tests. The Act should be read in conjunction with the Driving Instruction (Compensation Scheme) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1548), which established a scheme requiring the Secretary of State to pay compensation for income losses and non-income losses incurred by ADIs (and potential ADIs) who are suspended from giving paid instruction, but who are subsequently permitted to resume giving such instruction.31 In 2014 the Government published a ‘Post Legislative Assessment’ of the Act. This stated that no suspensions had been made.32
3.4 Modernising driver training, 2013-16 In June 2013 DSA published a wide-ranging consultation on reform of driving instruction. It sought views in a number of areas, including whether: • the current three qualifying tests should be replaced with a vocational qualification; • the current tests should be improved;
31 more information can be found at: DVSA, Driving instructor suspension: your rights [accessed 21 January 2016] 32 DfT, Post Legislative Assessment of the Driving Instruction (Suspension and Exemption Powers) Act 2009, Cm 8941, October 2014, p7 Number SN02844, 21 January 2016 12
• the trainee licence should be replaced with a requirement for trainee instructors to be accompanied by ADIs when providing paid instruction; • introducing fines (called ‘civil sanctions’) that the ADI Registrar could charge an ADI if they failed to follow a condition of their approval; • changing the grading structure and registration fees for ADIs; and • what information about ADIs it would be useful and fair for DSA to make available to the public.33 In July 2014 the new DVSA published an interim response to the consultation announcing that it would take forward the following proposals: • take steps to help instructors to publish and publicise their grade • explore the options for replacing the existing test of instructional ability (ADI part 3) with one that uses the same criteria and marking framework as the new standards check • continue to explore the possibilities of introducing a vocational qualification in the future while looking at ways some of the concerns raised could be addressed • further discuss with the industry how we can best reform the trainee licence without undermining the change to the ADI part 3 exam • progress an online booking service for standards checks • consult separately about amending the fee structure and fees charged to fund the Registrar’s functions • amend legislation to allow an ADI to request voluntary removal of their name from the Register34 It said it also intended to provide the option for an ADI to undergo a standards check to renew a lapsed registration, subject to consultation with ADIs, but it would not pursue civil sanctions. Many of these changes require legislation, which has not as yet been brought forward. In November 2015 DVSA and DfT published a Motoring Services Strategy consultation, seeking views on whether ADIs who have voluntarily lapsed from the Register may to re-enter it by successfully completing the standards check rather than re-qualifying.35 ADIs reacted strongly to a separate proposal in the consultation to financially incentivise learner drivers to only take their test when they are ready, possibly through some sort of deposit scheme.36 The Driving Instructors’ Association (DIA) surveyed its members, 76% of whom rejected the idea that leaners should pay a deposit that is refunded if
33 DSA, Modernising driver training: reform of the regulatory framework for approved driving instructors, 26 June 2013 34 DVSA, Modernising driver training interim response to consultation, 17 July 2014, p6 35 DfT/DVSA, Motoring Services Strategy Consultation, 13 November 2015, p31 36 ibid., p18 13 Driving instruction
they pass their test; 63% said a deposit scheme would not incentivise people to prepare better for their tests; and 84% said that fast-tracking tests through paying extra would mean that “only those who can afford to pay would gain an advantage and that this could discriminate against the economically disadvantaged”.37 In December 2015 the Conservative Government published its Road Safety Statement. This said that the Government intends to: • consult on ways to “incentivise and reward the uptake of more pre-test practice … and a broader range of real-world driving experiences, including deregulating to allow Approved Driving Instructors with dual-controlled cars to offer lessons on motorways to learner drivers” [see above]; and • work with DVSA to “support driving instructors and rider trainers to keep their approach attuned to the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s learners, encouraging them to learn a broader range of skills and be better prepared for safe road use in an increased range of real life situations”.38
37 DIA press notice, “ADIs reject test deposit proposal”, 6 January 2016 38 DfT, Working Together to Build a Safer Road System: British Road Safety Statement, Cm 9175, 21 December 2015, pp7-8, p17
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