Driving instructors car check tests taken during the financial year 2012
Published 21 August 2013
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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This is Freedom of Information request IA/0028513.
1. Request
Please can you provide details of all driving instructor car check tests taken during FY2012.
I would like two separate tables - one for Fleet check tests and one for standard ADI (car) check tests.
The information I would like is a count of tests conducted broken down by grade achieved and by whether the test was with a pupil present or a role play test as shown below :
Grade...Pupil....Role Play
--------------------------
6.......x,xxx....n,nnn
5.......x,xxx....n,nnn
4.......x,xxx....n,nnn
3 ... etc
2. Response
The database used for recording the outcome of check tests does not record whether a pupil was present or role play was used. The table below shows the number of check tests completed during the 2012/13 financial year and the grade awarded:
| Check test grade | Number awarded |
|---|---|
| 2 | 278 |
| 3 | 1,495 |
| 4 | 9,745 |
| 5 | 4,103 |
| 6 | 803 |
| E | 476 |
| Total | 16,900 |
A fleet instructor has to be an approved driving instructor (ADI) before they can join the voluntary fleet register. Any check tests conducted on fleet instructors also meet the ADI check test requirement and as such, they are only recorded as an ADI check test. We therefore do not hold in a central location, number of fleet register checks and grades achieved. To compile information on fleet instructor check tests we would have to manually reviewing each ADIs record who completed a check test in 2012/13 to establish if they are also fleet registered. This information is exempt from release under section 12 (1) (cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit) of the FoIA. A copy of this exemption is attached at Annex A.
The appropriate limit, as prescribed by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, is £600 for Central Government and £450 for other public authorities, with staff costs calculated at a rate of £25 per hour. When calculating whether the appropriate limit is exceeded, authorities can take account of the costs of determining whether the information is held, locating and retrieving the information, and extracting the information from other documents. They cannot take account of the costs involved with considering whether information is exempt under the Act.
There were 16,900 check tests completed. We have estimated that it would take two minutes to review each ADI record. Therefore to check all those ADI to see if they are fleet registered would take longer than 563 hours, which would exceed the 24 working hour limit prescribed.