asked the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria his Department requires a town to satisfy in order for it to have a driving test centre.

The aim is to have a national network of test centres located so far as possible to suit the reasonable convenience of candidates. There is no policy of locating centres in particular towns. The siting of a centre must meet land use planning, police and operational requirements. Most important, it should provide test routes which cover as wide a variety of traffic conditions as practicable and a selection of hazards, so as to impose a meaningful test on candidates.