Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on reform of the Apprenticeship Levy to support training needs in the road haulage sector.

This department continues to work closely with the Department for Transport and across government to ensure that the road haulage sector has access to the skills training that employers need. This engagement has led to important improvements to apprenticeships and skills bootcamps. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not met with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Transport to discuss reform of the apprenticeship levy.

The apprenticeship levy has enabled the department to increase investment to a total of £2.7 billion by 2024/25, which will support apprenticeship starts across every sector, including road haulage. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education regularly reviews the funding for apprenticeship standards. The department has recently increased funding for the heavy goods vehicle service and maintenance technician apprenticeship standard by 33% (from £15,000 to £20,000), the large goods vehicle apprenticeship standard by 14% (£7,000 to £8,000) and the motor vehicle service technician apprenticeship standard by 7% (£15,000 to £16,000). These increases are supporting providers deliver essential training across the sector.

In response to supply issues for driver training and testing in the transport sector, the department also introduced temporary arrangements through the apprenticeship system, so that more providers could deliver training and testing for the acquisition of a driving license.

Skills bootcamps are also providing opportunities for people to train as drivers, gain their licenses and launch new careers in road haulage sector. The department has invested up to £32 million to create up to 11,000 HGV driver training places, with further funding being allocated to support this training offer in the 2023/24 financial year.