Recommendation 24

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted

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 rail freight capacity on the rail network to help reduce carbon emissions from the freight sector. The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail (WSPfR), included strong commitments to support growth in rail freight, recognising the role it plays in supporting our economic and environmental agenda. The WSPfR included: a commitment to a rail freight growth target (also in the TDP), which Government will consult on shortly; a recommendation for GB Railways to include a Strategic Freight Unit dedicated to improving efficiency across the network for Freight users; and the creation of a duty on GB railways to promote rail freight. To support rail freight growth in the near term, in particular to boost resilience throughout the pandemic, Network Rail have worked to increase the number of paths out of major container ports (in particular Felixstowe, Liverpool and Immingham), deliver new services (such as from Doncaster to Mossend) and deliver Freight Train Lengthening Schemes (Southampton). The Government has committed £20m per year (2022/23 to 2024/25) through its mode shift freight grant schemes to support rail and water freight services on routes where they deliver environmental benefits over road haulage but are more expensive to operate. The Department for Transport operates two freight revenue grant schemes to encourage modal shift from road to rail or water. These are Mode Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) for rail and inland waterways and Waterborne Freight Grant (WFG) for coastal and short sea shipping. MSRS assists companies with the operating costs associated with running rail or inland water freight transport instead of road, where rail or inland waterway transport is more expensive. WFG can assist a company with the operating costs associated with running waterborne freight transport instead of road, where transport by water is more expensive. Conclusion Haulage and logistics is a vital sector for the economy and essential to our supply chains. The Government continues to support this critical sector at a time of global challenge. This includes the 33 interventions to address the HGV driver shortage, Future of Freight report, and Generation Logistics campaign. These wide-ranging initiatives demonstrate our commitment to supporting the logistics industry in meeting those challenges. Indeed, thanks to these measures, the pressure is abating, and leading industry groups are now reporting that the numbers of HGV drivers are starting to stabilise. Logistics UK’s skills report states that significant steps have been taken to help address the recruitment issues which have plagued the sector for years, with Government and industry working together. The Government agrees with the Committee that there is more for industry to do to attract and retain talent and make investments that will improve conditions for workers in the sectors. We look forward to continuing our efforts across Government and working with industry and sector stakeholders to deliver a more diverse and sustainable workforce with improved working conditions to support the needs of the UK economy.