Large Goods Vehicles (Hansard, 17 June 2002)

§ Phil Sawford
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average age is of drivers of large goods vehicles. [61484]
72W

§ Mr. Jamieson
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's latest statistics, for March 2000, indicate that the average age of drivers of large goods vehicles is 42.6 years.

§ Phil Sawford
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with representatives of the road haulage industry about projected shortages of large goods vehicles drivers. [61483]

§ Mr. Jamieson
The road haulage industry is responsible for recruiting, retaining and training the workforce it needs, including LGV drivers.
The Government has discussed on many occasions the challenges the industry is facing through the Road Haulage Forum, and set up over a year ago a separate training sub-group which includes representatives of the Freight Transport Association, the Road Haulage Association, and the Transport and General Workers Union. The sub-group, which is chaired by Edward Roderick, Chief Executive of Christian Salvesen, met most recently on 24 May.
Through the main Forum the training sub-group has access to funds from the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund. We have already committed an initial £5 million to a package of measures including an expansion of the Young Drivers Scheme, a demonstration project under Modern Apprenticeships and a feasibility study on transferable training loans. The measures are aimed at helping the industry recruit more young people and protecting employer investment in training.