Andrew Bridgen
Main Page: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)Department Debates - View all Andrew Bridgen's debates with the Leader of the House
(9 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Speaker
Order. Individual Members can undertake their own exegesis of the words of the Leader of the House. That is a matter for them. It would be unfair, however, to delay the delivery of the question from the hon. Member for North West Leicestershire (Andrew Bridgen).
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)
The UK is facing a critical shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers. The average age of a lorry driver in this country is now 53 years old, with only 2% of qualified drivers under the age of 25 and 60% over 45. The overall shortage is already estimated at more than 50,000 job vacancies, which could have an immense impact on our economic growth. May we have a debate on how we can get more people into the logistics industry, perhaps through an HGV apprenticeship scheme?
Chris Grayling
It would be timely to have a debate on apprenticeships in the HGV sector, and on apprenticeships more broadly because they are a priority for the Government. I encourage my hon. Friend to apply for either an Adjournment debate or a Backbench Business debate. It is also a matter to which the Government will be returning.