Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people have newly passed an LGV driver practical test in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The number of LGV driver practical test passes in each of the last five years are:
2015/16 | 39,000 |
2016/17 | 44,346 |
2017/18 | 40,808 |
2018/19 | 43,065 |
2019/20 | 41,434 |
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency publishes the statistics for all driving tests on Gov.uk
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the proportion of people holding driving qualifications who are (a) women and (b) from each Census 2021 ethnicity group.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency does not hold this data.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people have newly qualified as forklift operators in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government does not record the numbers of newly qualified forklift operators.
The training for materials handling equipment, including forklift trucks, is an option within the Supply Chain Warehouse Operative apprenticeship but is not required to complete the apprenticeship. There have been 5,093 Supply Chain Warehouse Operative apprenticeship starts in the last five years.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people have newly qualified as LGV drivers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Prior to the pandemic more than 40,000 drivers passed their LGV test each year over the last four years. The restrictions put in place to fight the pandemic has affected the ability for new drivers to take their LGV driving test.
LGV driver training and testing is due re-start on 12 April as the current restrictions are lifted. When tests resume DVSA plan to conduct 2,800 to 3,000 tests per week.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of people newly qualifying as LGV drivers.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Prior to the pandemic more than 40,000 drivers passed their LGV test each year over the last four years. The restrictions put in place to fight the pandemic has affected the ability for new drivers to take their LGV driving test.
LGV driver training and testing is due re-start on 12 April as the current restrictions are lifted. When tests resume DVSA plan to conduct 2,800 to 3,000 tests per week.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of newly qualified forklift operators.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government does not record the numbers of newly qualified forklift operators.
The training for materials handling equipment, including forklift trucks, is an option within the Supply Chain Warehouse Operative apprenticeship but is not required to complete the apprenticeship. There have been 5,093 Supply Chain Warehouse Operative apprenticeship starts in the last five years.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people have (a) applied for a Driving Goods Vehicles apprenticeship, (b) started a Driving Goods Vehicles apprenticeship and (c) successfully completed a Driving Goods Vehicles apprenticeship in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
There have been 4,889 starts for the Large Goods Vehicle Driver apprenticeship standard in the five years to October 2020.
We are working with the industry to develop a suite of apprenticeships which will enable the logistics sector to make the most of the Apprenticeship Levy funding available.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in (a) the number of applications for Driving Goods Vehicles apprenticeships, (b) the number of starts for Driving Goods Vehicles apprenticeships and (c) the number of successful completions of Driving Goods Vehicles apprenticeships.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
There have been 4,889 starts for the Large Goods Vehicle Driver apprenticeship standard in the five years to October 2020.
We are working with the industry to develop a suite of apprenticeships which will enable the logistics sector to make the most of the Apprenticeship Levy funding available.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of skills shortages in the logistics sector in the occupations of (a) transport management, (b) mechanics, (c) technicians, (d) LGV drivers, (e) storage management, (f) elementary storage occupations, (g) importers and exporters.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The labour shortages in the sector are longstanding. There has been no recent systematic assessment by the department of the extent of the skills shortage. Assessments have been made by Logistics UK.
We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentre Plus to ensure that jobseekers can find employment or training in the industry as quickly as possible.
We are also working with the Department for Education in supporting the logistics sector make the most of the opportunities provided through the apprenticeship levy.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from (a) members of the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce and (b) other sector stakeholders on the effect of the UK leaving the EU on transport sector skills shortages.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In 2016, the Government set ambitions through the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy (TISS) to increase apprenticeships in road and rail client bodies to help address skills shortages in the transport sector, ensuring that the transport sector has the capacity and capability to deliver planned investment and to increase diversity.
Over the past four years, the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce (STAT) has worked to identify skills shortages across the transport sector. To understand the likely impact of changes to migration policy post-Brexit, STAT responded to the Migration Advisory Committee’s Call for Evidence on Salary Thresholds (2019) and the Shortage Occupation List (2017 and (2020). This included employer led evidence of the potential impacts of Brexit on the transport industry.
The Department has received representations from sector stakeholders including Logistics UK which publishes an annual Skills and Employment Report and a monthly Logistics Performance Tracker. The Road Haulage Association also continue to make representations to government.