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Written Question
Buses: Driving
Thursday 18th January 2024

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 203762 on Buses: Driving, what (a) actions are required by his Department and (b) the planned timeline is for the delivery of those actions.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport received requests from industry to remove the regulatory 50 km restriction on regular services for 18 – 20-year old bus and coach drivers and explore whether a person is able to undertake the theory and off-road manoeuvre elements of the Driver Certificate of Professional Competency test prior to being granted a provisional licence. The Department has been considering these requests and we are actively working on next steps.


The Department will continue to work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions and industry to identify job centre customers who would like to become bus and coach drivers and support them to achieve that aim. Part of our work on this has involved setting up a pilot scheme with an operator that is designed to recruit and train job centre customers into coach driving roles. This pilot has been successful and we are looking at rolling out a similar pilot to areas of the country that have the greatest bus and coach driver shortage.


Written Question
Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Vacancies
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to address skills shortages (a) among HGV drivers and (b) in the road transport sector.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government has a multi-pronged approach to tackling this problem. It has invested in skills bootcamps to train up to 11,000 more people to become HGV drivers to help tackle the HGV driver shortage. These are free, short, intensive courses to train drivers to be road ready and gain a Category C or Category C&E licence.

The Government is also supporting lorry driver training through apprenticeships. The Large Goods Vehicle Driver apprenticeship, which trains drivers to gain their Cat C&E licence, has recently had its funding level increased to £8,000. The Urban Driver apprenticeship which trains drivers to Cat C standard is also available with up to £5,000 of funding.

The Department for Transport has also supported the non-profit initiative Road to Logistics to train military service leavers, ex-offenders and the long term unemployed to move into jobs in the logistics sector, including lorry driving.

These measures are working with industry reporting that the acute driver shortage has eased. We continue to work with the sector to monitor the availability of drivers and tackle the issues affecting both the recruitment and retention of HGV drivers.

Following the actions raised during the driver shortages (buses and coaches) summit held in November 2022, the Department plans to consult on removing the regulatory 50km restriction on 18- to 20-year-old bus and coach drivers driving a regular service, and allowing prospective drivers to undertake the theory and off-road manoeuvre tests prior to being granted a provisional bus license. Since the summit, figures from the Confederation of Passenger Transport show that the vacancy rate for bus drivers in Great Britain fell from a high of 9.3% in September 2022 to 6.5% in May 2023.


Written Question
Buses: Driving
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish a summary of the outcomes of the Bus and Coach Driver Summit hosted by his Department and the Confederation of Passenger Transport in November 2022.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Transport and Confederation of Passenger Transport co-chaired a Bus and Coach Summit in November 2022. The summit brought together experts from industry, national and local government to look at issues facing driver recruitment and retention to bus and coach operators, and identified ideas and actions to help address these. Many of these are owned by industry, who as aforementioned, are responsible for recruiting drivers.

While the Department has no current plans to publish the full list of outcomes from the summit, some of the issues raised require action from the Department for Transport.


Written Question
Bus Services: Vacancies
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle high levels of bus and coach driver vacancies in England.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Whilst it is the responsibility of the sector to recruit and retain drivers, the Department for Transport regularly engages with industry to understand issues in recruiting and retaining bus and coach drivers, and how Government can help. Latest intelligence from the sector suggests that the shortage has reduced over the course of this year.

The Department for Transport and Confederation of Passenger Transport co-chaired a Bus and Coach Summit in November 2022. The summit brought together experts from industry, national and local government to look at issues facing driver recruitment and retention to bus and coach operators, and identified ideas and actions to help address these. Many of these are owned by industry, who as aforementioned, are responsible for recruiting drivers.

We are also ensuring there is sufficient access to Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) practical driving tests, whether through the bus and coach industry’s network of delegated examiners, or directly through Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency test centres.


Written Question
Public Transport
Wednesday 19th July 2023

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the level of labour shortages of (a) HGV and (b) public service vehicle drivers on the provision of public transport.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

In response to the HGV driver shortage, the Government put in place 33 short, medium, and long-term interventions, such as increased driving test availability and the £34m investment from DfE to train up to 11,000 drivers through Skills Bootcamps.

These interventions have begun to take effect, with industry bodies reporting positively that the number of HGV drivers is stabilising, and there is currently no severe disruption to critical sectors due to the driver shortage which we continue to monitor.

Bus and coach driver shortages have been an issue but appear to be abating based on the latest intelligence from the sector.


Written Question
Buses and Large Goods Vehicle Drivers
Tuesday 14th March 2023

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help (a) retain bus, coach and HGV drivers and (b) encourage the return of former drivers to the sector.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Government recognises the important contribution that professional drivers make to the nation, the economy, and business.

The Government is supporting the training of new HGV drivers through Apprenticeships and Skills Bootcamps but recognises that more needs to be done to retain drivers. Lorry drivers will soon benefit from improved roadside facilities and safer rest areas thanks to up to £100 million investment from industry and Government via the ‘HGV parking and welfare grant scheme’ and National Highways funding to improve roadside facilities.

In November 2022, the Department and Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) co-chaired a Bus and Coach Driver Summit to understand and address the issues causing driver shortages. Following the Bus and Coach Driver Summit, the Department has been working with CPT to take forward the actions identified.


Written Question
Refugees: Ukraine
Tuesday 29th March 2022

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with her international counterparts in countries bordering Ukraine to support (a) identification and (b) transportation to the UK of eligible refugees.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The UK Government is engaged in dialogue with a range of international partners to ensure our response to the situation in Ukraine is coordinated and effective. The Home Secretary is speaking regularly to her international counterparts, including countries bordering Ukraine, to understand how the UK can work together with our partners.

The Home Office has made the visa process quicker and simpler for Ukrainians to come here. Valid passport holders no longer have to attend in-person appointments to submit fingerprints or facial verification. This means Visa Application Centres across Europe can focus their efforts on helping Ukrainians without documentation. The Home Office is deploying more staff to the region to support customer queries and bring on board further capacity to facilitate more biometric appointments. This is in addition to actions we have already taken including surging capacity to countries neighbouring Ukraine including Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic and Moldova, including a new pop-up VAC in Rzeszow, Poland. We have already increased the capacity to support customer queries and to expand capacity across our Visa Application Centres to 13,000 appointments per week in Europe.

A number of European transport companies are offering free transport for people fleeing Ukraine. This includes rail, bus, ferry and air travel. The transport industry in England, Scotland and Wales has also come together to offer free rail, tram, bus and coach onward travel for Ukrainians arriving in the UK from any international port, airport or train station.


Written Question
Refugees: Ukraine
Monday 28th March 2022

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what additional steps he will take to help ensure that refugees travelling from Ukraine to the UK can travel for free from their point of arrival to their host destination.

Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

The Government is determined to ensure that Ukrainian evacuees encounter a warm reception in the UK, and the Department for Transport is working with partners from across the transport industry to provide free onward travel by public transport.

As part of a national scheme organised by the Department working with industry, most public transport operators will provide free onward travel to Ukrainian evacuees to their final destinations in Great Britain. All National Rail train operators in Great Britain, and most bus, coach and light rail operators are participating in this scheme.


Written Question
Bus Services
Thursday 20th January 2022

Asked by: Robert Goodwill (Conservative - Scarborough and Whitby)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support the UK bus and coach industry.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Since the start of the pandemic, an unprecedented level of support has been provided to the bus sector. Initially, over £1.5bn in emergency support was provided to operators and Local Transport Authorities through the Coronavirus Bus Service Support Grant.

Recognising the ongoing financial challenges faced by the sector as passengers return, the Government has provided an additional £226.5m in recovery support through the Bus Recovery Grant. This scheme will run between September 2021 and April 2022.

For the coach industry, the Government has announced a range of measures available to support UK businesses, including coach operators, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough), loan schemes and grant funding.

On 25 March 2021, the Government announced a new Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) of £1.5 billion, available to support those businesses affected by the pandemic but that are ineligible for existing support linked to business rates. While this funding is allocated at local authorities’ discretion, the Government has issued guidance to councils encouraging them to consider tour operators among the businesses eligible for support. Coach operators should contact their local authorities for more information.

The Department continues to engage with stakeholders from both sectors to understand the challenges faced and support recovery.


Written Question
Buses: Driving
Monday 13th December 2021

Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage more people to become bus drivers.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

DfT are monitoring bus driver shortage data through surveys to bus and coach operators, and to Local Transport Authorities. The purpose of this is to gather information about the extent of the shortages across the country, so that this can be monitored as the situation develops and, to see if there is more that DfT can do to ensure the supply of drivers is sufficient.

Individual bus operators are required to ensure they have sufficient staff in order to run their scheduled services. To this end, we expect the bus sector to pursue all opportunities to encourage job seekers into the industry.