Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of new HGV drivers that would need to be trained annually to maintain workforce levels; and what steps her Department is taking to help support the industry to train HGV drivers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly monitors the HGV driver workforce and engages with the road haulage sector through the Freight Workforce Group and other regular stakeholder meetings. Industry need for HGV drivers can fluctuate depending on a number of economic factors.
The Government continues to support the sector with the skills training it needs through the Urban Driver and Large Goods Vehicle driver apprenticeships. Skills Bootcamps also remain an important part of government-funded skills provision. Their delivery has evolved with DfE funding Bootcamps through Mayor's Skills Academies and local areas directly. This supports the government’s commitment to empower local leaders with greater control over skills development.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to introduce a strategy to help improve the (a) quality and (b) quantity of truck parking.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport published The National Survey of Lorry Parking on 29 September 2022, which highlighted what improvements to lorry parking facilities were most needed. The survey showed an average shortage of around 4,500 HGV parking spaces for the month of March 2022 and identified driver concerns with the quality of welfare facilities and security of lorry parks.
The Department and industry are significantly investing to upgrade truckstops across England – including helping to create up to 1500 additional parking spaces. This is on top of up to £26 million joint investment by National Highways and industry in lorry parking facilities along the strategic roads network.
A decision on future funding for HGV parking is subject to further departmental business planning.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to take steps to review taxi licensing in the context of the findings of the National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department for Transport will legislate to address the important issues raised in Baroness Casey’s report, tackling the inconsistent standards of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licensing. We will work as quickly as possible and consider all options – including out of area working, national standards and enforcement – seeking the best overall outcomes for passenger safety.
In the interim we will act urgently to make improvements, including consulting on making local transport authorities, including combined authorities, responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, and determining how existing statutory guidance can be strengthened to further protect the public. We are also reviewing authorities’ compliance with existing guidance and will hold those who do not follow it to account.
Some important protections have already been put in place since earlier inquiries into Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. All licensing authorities in England now undertake extensive driver background checks, and since 2023
they are required to use a single database to prevent a driver refused a licence in one area on safety grounds going elsewhere. Careful consideration of the options is needed as we do not want any change to decrease the availability of highly vetted licensed drivers and vehicles and inadvertently increase the use of those offering illegal services that evade these licensing checks.