I recently had someone enquire about a free student provisionl licence because according to the email I received, they had been told that the DVLA in Swansea was able to issue free provisional licenses to students who held a current valid NUS card. The video below has details:
Sorry to disappoint you, but there is no government sponsored programme that allows this, and if you want a provisonal licence to learn to drive, you will need to pay £50 (correct as at April 2011) in order to get one even if you are a student, so they are not free.
If I do learn of any such schemes for the issue of learner licences to students, I will post it here.
Recommended ProductFocus Media's Driving Test simulator for the PC, a virtual driving test simulator based on the DSA driving test.