Proposals being developed by my Department for the regulation and quality assurance of driving instruction will involve a test of the competence of individual instructors. A working group comprising representatives of my Department and of instruction interests has formulated the design of the standards that a driving instructor must meet.
I am considering what arrangements will be put in place to oversee implementation of the standard in the context of the establishment of the driver testing and standards authority. The Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 is at Second Stage. It is not possible at this stage to determine the likely cost to the Exchequer, if any.