About the Driving Standards Agency (DSA)

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is a trading fund with turnover of over £152 million for the year 2006/07.  Income for the year 2007/08 is expected to be in the region of £165 million, fully funded by fee income and revenue from non-statutory activities. 

DSA employs 2,653 staff, of which some 1,911 are driving examiners.  In 2006/07 the Agency conducted over 1.8 million practical tests for car drivers, 101,000 vocational tests and over 83,000 motorcycle rider tests.  Over 1.5 million theory tests were carried out at 158 centres.  At the end of the year there were 41,507 people on the Register of Approved Driving Instructors.

Vision and Mission

DSA’s vision is “Safe Driving for Life”.  The overall mission is to contribute to the public service agreement objective to achieve 40% reduction in riders and drivers killed or seriously injured in road accidents, in the age group up to 24 years, by 2010 compared with the average for 1994-98.

Our contribution centres on

• Setting standards for drivers, riders and trainers
• Driver education and the provision of learning resources
• Registering and supervising quality assured instructors
• Modern, effective and efficient assessments conducted as computer based and practical tests

DSA’s Objectives

We have three core strategic aims.  To deliver

• Better services to customers

• Better outcomes for citizens

•  Better value for money

We will monitor delivery of these strategic aims through 6 specific outcomes:

• Effective service to customers
• Improved road safety
• Improved journey time reliability on our roads
• Better regulation
• Reduced environmental impact, crime and anti-social behaviour
• Continuous achievement of better value for money