Written question WQ88246

We are doing what we can to support the industry despite the majority of powers relating to these issues not being devolved. Under the Wales Transport Strategy, we will soon develop a Logistics and Freight Plan for Wales, which will consider all of the recent Economy, Rural Affairs and Trade Committee’s inquiry into addressing HGV driver shortages, related supply chain issues, its recommendations including driver training and encouraging more people to get in to the industry at all levels.

We are supporting HGV drivers through our ReAct+ programme, which can provide individuals with a vocational training grant of up to £1500. The grant can be used to help with the acquisition of lorry licences and associated qualifications such as the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC). The grant can also be used to fund refresher training for lorry drivers who wish to re-enter the sector and provide a contribution towards wages to employers in the private sector who recruit an eligible worker.

Our Personal Learning Accounts (PLA) programme provides free courses and qualifications to help employed people to upskill or reskill into priority sectors to improve their career and earnings prospects. Additional PLA funding of £10m million was allocated to address key skills and workforce shortages, more than £3 million of which was targeted at training over 850 HGV drivers. We are also working with Careers Wales to promote HGV driving as a career.

The most recent information we have suggests a shortfall of approximately 50,000 - 60,000 HGV drivers which has reduced from over 100,000 during the pandemic which demonstrates some of positive impact these schemes have had on driver shortages.

In the longer term, there is an opportunity to reverse the problems that have been building in the industry over many years and to create a more sustainable and resilient sector that offers fairer pay and working conditions for drivers.

Any future investment into training will be subject to funding availability from our annual budget settlement.

Officials are in regular contact with key sector stakeholders including the Welsh branches of the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and Logistics UK, to understand the concerns and priorities of the sector and enable us to ensure the Welsh perspective on industry issues is communicated in discussions with UK Government.

Driving Goods Vehicles Apprenticeships provide the road transport industry staff with knowledge and qualifications to support a career path in the industry by underpinning HGV training. For example, providing training on maintaining the integrity of load and vehicle by applying correct procedures for restraint, road, health and safety including shipping, removals, import/export, freight, hazardous goods, and food. Welsh haulier employers are also able to access the apprenticeship programme to train and upskill vehicle technicians to keep their fleet on the road – a need which the RHA has recently highlighted.