Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending the HGV Skills bootcamp programme beyond 2023, to alleviate the shortage of HGV drivers.

Skills Bootcamps in HGV driving provide more opportunities for people to train as a HGV driver, gain their HGV driving licence and launch new careers in the sector, helping to alleviate the HGV driver shortage.  Since the launch in December 2021, the suppliers contracted to deliver Skills Bootcamps in HGV driving have seen high demand for places.

The department is investing up to £34 million to create up to 11,000 HGV driver training places for people that are new, returning to, or looking to upskill as an HGV driver. We have listened to HGV driver training companies and have confirmed that the new drivers can be trained between December 2021 and end of March 2023.

The department is currently reviewing HGV delivery, and more detail on the future availability of Skills Bootcamps in HGV driving will be announced in due course.