Recommendations & Conclusions
25 items
1
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
A lack of HGV drivers has concerned Government and industry for more than a decade. Too few people want to work in the sector, and the retention rate for those who become drivers is low. The covid-19 pandemic exacerbated those trends, turning a chronic problem into an acute one. The …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation, and its historical nature, and recognises the difficulties created to supply chains, and the wider economy, as a result of HGV driver shortages. It is committed to ensuring this is tackled to support the vital …
Department for Transport
2
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
In the past, the Department for Transport argued that the haulage sector itself was primarily responsible for addressing driver recruitment and retention. The unprecedented nature of the recent crisis led the Government to take a different tack. That change was welcome. However, the Government’s piecemeal approach has involved a range …
Government response. We welcome the Committee’s steer on the central role for industry in ensuring a resilient workforce in the road freight sector and putting in place the conditions and facilities that will support recruitment and retention. It is right that many …
Department for Transport
3
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
We want to see greater ambition, which means the introduction of a coherent strategic plan. In the five years since our predecessor Committee examined this issue, the sector has failed to solve its own problems. Little to no improvement has been made on a whole range of important issues. The …
Government response. We welcome the Committee’s steer on the central role for industry in ensuring a resilient workforce in the road freight sector and putting in place the conditions and facilities that will support recruitment and retention. It is right that many …
Department for Transport
4
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
One step the Government should take straightaway, as part of its review of the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence, is to ensure the logistics sector funds its own driver training, as is common practice in the bus and coach sector. It makes no sense that HGV drivers should have to …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation, and its historical nature, and recognises the difficulties created to supply chains, and the wider economy, as a result of HGV driver shortages. It is committed to ensuring this is tackled to support the vital …
Department for Transport
5
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
Driving an HGV is a challenging job. It is physically demanding and involves lengthy, anti-social hours. The way in which drivers are treated and the conditions in which they are required to work can exacerbate those pressures. Unless these conditions improve, retention rates will remain low. Post-pandemic pay increases can …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation and the need for improved standards and safety for HGV drivers. All employers and businesses must ensure that they comply with employment law at all times, including any requirements specific to the sector for example …
Department for Transport
6
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Government, in consultation with the sector, should devise a binding code of conduct setting minimum standards for employers’ and other businesses’ treatment of HGV drivers.
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation and the need for improved standards and safety for HGV drivers. All employers and businesses must ensure that they comply with employment law at all times, including any requirements specific to the sector for example …
Department for Transport
7
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
Overnight parking facilities for HGV drivers are insufficient, especially on key road freight routes. This lack of capacity is not new; the Department’s previous lorry parking survey identified it five years ago. (Paragraph 35) 32 Road freight supply chain
Government response. The Government recognises the need to ensure hauliers have access to appropriate services and facilities and believes that the private sector is best placed to deliver new capacity and high-quality facilities for drivers. The Government is gathering evidence on HGV …
Department for Transport
8
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Government should use the findings of its current lorry parking survey to set regional targets for building additional parking capacity. It should set up a joint Government-industry taskforce to ensure these targets are met.
Government response. The Government recognises the need to ensure hauliers have access to appropriate services and facilities and believes that the private sector is best placed to deliver new capacity and high-quality facilities for drivers. The Government is gathering evidence on HGV …
Department for Transport
9
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
Without clear direction from the Government’s planning legislation and guidance, building desperately-needed new driver’s facilities, and even upgrading old ones, is a tortuous process. Local authorities in Kent, and other parts of the country where supply chain movements are prominent, face an impossible task and cannot be expected to elect …
Government response. The Government recognises the need for modernisation and reform to the planning system. An integral part of reviewing any changes to the planning system is considering how they align with and support the Government’s wider mission to level-up the country …
Department for Transport
10
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Government must build on its commitment in the Queen’s Speech to reform the existing planning framework and ensure that decisions for new driver facilities are not left to individual planning authorities. The Government must reform national planning policy to ensure that more driver facilities, which are fit for purpose …
Government response. The Government recognises the need for modernisation and reform to the planning system. An integral part of reviewing any changes to the planning system is considering how they align with and support the Government’s wider mission to level-up the country …
Department for Transport
11
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
HGV drivers need safe and secure places to stop, to rest and to recuperate. Drivers told us that too often the facilities available to them were unfit for purpose. Rest facilities must be improved if more drivers are to remain in the sector.
Government response. The Government is considering what role standards have to play in driving improvements to driver facilities and encouraging providers to properly maintain and improve their business offerings, including on the areas raised by the Committee. We are gathering evidence on …
Department for Transport
12
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Government should set a minimum standard for driver facilities. This should cover: Ȥ Security to protect drivers and their vehicles; Ȥ Availability and cleanliness of toilet and shower facilities; Ȥ Food options, including healthy choices; and Ȥ Sufficient provision for female drivers.
Government response. The Government is considering what role standards have to play in driving improvements to driver facilities and encouraging providers to properly maintain and improve their business offerings, including on the areas raised by the Committee. We are gathering evidence on …
Department for Transport
13
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Government owns the freehold of a number of motorway service areas. Delays in negotiating leasehold extensions with operators are holding up necessary investments in some of these facilities. While the Government must, of course, ensure it receives value for money, it is disappointing how little urgency it has shown.
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation and can confirm that the DfT and National Highways are currently assessing future ownership options for sites where the Government holds the motorway service areas (MSA) freehold. This work is looking at how to maximise …
Department for Transport
14
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Department should inject more urgency and immediately escalate and prioritise negotiations to agree new leases with motorway service operators operating on Government-owned land.
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation and can confirm that the DfT and National Highways are currently assessing future ownership options for sites where the Government holds the motorway service areas (MSA) freehold. This work is looking at how to maximise …
Department for Transport
15
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
HGV drivers should not park overnight in laybys or other unsuitable locations. It leaves drivers vulnerable to crime and is not conducive to rest and recuperation. Yet some drivers are forced to do this as managed facilities are full, while others choose to, either to save money or because the …
Government response. The Government recognises the need to ensure hauliers have access to appropriate services and facilities and believes that the private sector is best placed to deliver new capacity and high-quality facilities for drivers. The Government is gathering evidence on HGV …
Department for Transport
16
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The fragmented nature of the road haulage sector makes it difficult for logistics operators to act in a concerted fashion to improve the conditions for HGV drivers. The actions of a few large companies, such as the major supermarket chains, exacerbates this. These companies use their market power to drive …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation and the need for improved standards and safety for HGV drivers. All employers and businesses must ensure that they comply with employment law at all times, including any requirements specific to the sector for example …
Department for Transport
17
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
In other policy areas, where the Government has run out of patience with inertia, it has threatened industry with actions which would be taken if the industry does not find its own solution. Similar examples can be found in measures brought in to reduce sugar content in soft drinks and …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation. We have put in place 33 Government-led interventions to target the HGV driver shortage. Our interventions range from introducing skills bootcamps for the sector with 11,000 funded training places, to using our newfound Brexit freedoms …
Department for Transport
18
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Government should give the logistics sector two years to deliver sufficient drivers and high-quality parking facilities. If industry does not deliver, the Government should implement the levy charging mechanism and cause the industry to pay sufficient sums for the Government to build these facilities and pay to train new …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation. We have put in place 33 Government-led interventions to target the HGV driver shortage. Our interventions range from introducing skills bootcamps for the sector with 11,000 funded training places, to using our newfound Brexit freedoms …
Department for Transport
19
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Supply Chain Levy should be applied to those at the production and sales end of the supply chain, such as large retailers, oil companies and online service giants. These organisations currently make large profits which do not trickle further down the supply chain to the companies which transport the …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation. Regarding the suggested levy, taxes are a matter for HM Treasury and all taxes are kept under review. The Government has already taken extensive action to improve standards and resilience in the supply chain, most …
Department for Transport
20
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The average age of HGV drivers continues to increase. Although the sector is perhaps more open to female drivers than in the past, it has largely failed to attract a diverse workforce. It is disappointing how little progress has been made since our predecessor Committee reported five years ago. That …
Government response. We recognise that the lack of diversity continues to present a barrier to solving the labour shortages in HGV driving and across the wider logistics sector. This will require the sector to make working in logistics more attractive and accessible …
Department for Transport
21
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
There are various routes to becoming an HGV driver. The sector does not find it difficult to recruit new entrants. It has struggled to make apprenticeships work as an entry point, because the role does not fit within the parameters set by the Department for Education’s various arm’s-length bodies such …
Government response. In addition to Bootcamps, Government has developed a wide range of other training routes to become an HGV driver and make financial support for training available. These include the Large Goods Vehicle Driver and Urban Driver Apprenticeships funded through the …
Department for Transport
22
Recommendation
First Report - Road freight supply chain
We welcome the introduction of skills bootcamps as a faster, more flexible route to becoming an HGV driver. The Government should make the provision of skills bootcamps for HGV drivers permanent, with part of the scheme targeted at underrepresented groups in the current workforce. That policy could be funded from …
Government response. The Government notes this recommendation and agrees that our ground-breaking bootcamps and apprenticeship offers have started to make an impact. Good progress is being made with over 7,000 bootcamp candidates having started their driver training by the end of May …
Department for Transport
23
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
We welcome the steps the Government have taken to get more freight off our roads and on to our railways. We hope this is a process the establishment of Great British Railways will accelerate. The current model which sees freight moved from one end of the country to the other …
Government response. The Government agrees that more freight should be taken from the road and on to rail and water. The Government is supportive of modal shift of freight from road to rail wherever possible and is exploring the potential to increase …
Department for Transport
24
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The Government, alongside the sector, must work together to set targets and deadlines to switch more freight from road to rail and water. This must happen alongside steps to decarbonise road freight itself.
Government response. The Government agrees that more freight should be taken from the road and on to rail and water. The Government is supportive of modal shift of freight from road to rail wherever possible and is exploring the potential to increase …
Department for Transport
25
Conclusion
First Report - Road freight supply chain
The introduction of the EU’s new Entry/Exit system later in 2022 threatens to cause further confusion, disruption, and delay at the UK’s border, particularly at the Port of Dover. The Minister stressed that other Departments were primarily responsible for the management of the UK’s borders. We recognise the division of …
Department for Transport