Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the shortfall of HGV drivers in Great Britain is addressed in the short term.

The Department for Transport has regular discussions with the road haulage industry. We are working together to address the current HGV driver shortage, which is an issue affecting many countries worldwide.

The Government has already taken firm action to bring new drivers into the industry as soon as possible. This includes funding apprenticeships and making an additional incentive payment available, training for jobseekers, and support for drivers to return to the sector, and doubling the number of vocational driving tests available.

Further measures have been announced, including eliminating the need for car drivers to take an additional test to tow a trailer, delegating the HGV test reversing exercise and uncoupling and recoupling to a third party and making it quicker to get a licence to drive an articulated vehicle (Cat C+E), without first having to get a licence for a smaller vehicle (Cat C). These should increase lorry driver testing capacity by a further 50,000 tests a year.