Complaints against driving test examiner
Published 15 May 2014
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
© Crown copyright 2014
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-against-driving-test-examiner/complaints-against-driving-test-examiner
This is Freedom of Information request ia0054213.
Request
Can you please provide me with an understanding of the history of complaints against this examiner specifically in terms of volume of complaints and complaints against him relative to a benchmark of some sort?
Response
I can neither confirm nor deny whether we hold information about complaints made against your examiner Mr X. You should note that if any information was held, it would be X’s personal data as defined by the Data Protection Act and exempt from release under section 40(2) (personal information) of the FoIA. This is because it would not be fair to X for this information to be disclosed. Section 40 (5)(b)(i) does not require me to either confirm or deny if information about complaints is held as this would disclose personal data and breach the data protection principles of the Data Protection Act. A full breakdown of this exemption can be found at Annex A.
Request
Also, can you please provide me the same information as it relates to his failure rates?
Response
DSA does hold individual examiner pass and fail rates. However, this information is being withheld under section 36(2)(c) on the grounds that its disclosure would prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs, a view certified by the Minister and then subject to the public interest test as to whether the balance lies in favour of withholding or disclosing the information. We have concluded, applying a presumption in favour of disclosure, and in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
Annex B of this letter sets out the exemption in full, as well as the factors we have considered when deciding where the public interest lay.