Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2024

Baroness Scott of Needham Market Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Lords Chamber

Every night thousands of lorry drivers still park up in lay-bys, away from fixed ablution facilities. As a result, in the morning they have to urinate in a plastic milk bottle or go into the bushes. Perhaps that is a more important reason why we cannot retain drivers in the industry. Can the Minister name any other industry where key employees are treated so disdainfully? Might this situation explain why there are so few lady lorry drivers in the industry? Will the Minister agree to write to me and give me his best estimate of how many HGV drivers are sleeping in their cabs overnight, away from fixed facilities? If he cannot, will he task Highways England with gathering that data, if necessary, by conducting a census?

[Baroness Scott of Needham Market (LD)]

My Lords, following the last two speeches, I can tell the House that no one has ever let me anywhere near a lorry. Nevertheless, we on these Benches very much support these measures, which strike the right balance between making sure that people are safe to be on the road and removing unnecessary bureaucracy. That will be helpful for drivers and for SMEs in particular, so we support that.

I would be interested to hear from the Minister what plans there are to keep the impact of these measures under review, particularly the move to e-learning. I am sure that is a sensible thing to do, but we will probably need some data just to make sure that there is no adverse impact; indeed, it may be beneficial.

I was not entirely clear from what the Minister said whether the certificate will be interoperable in Europe and with European standards. I am thinking particularly about drivers in Northern Ireland who cross the border into the Republic multiple times. I did not entirely understand what he had to say about that.

[Lord Moylan (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for arranging a briefing with officials for me on this instrument, and indeed on the previous instrument, about which I should have made a similar remark.

This is a Brexit benefit; there is no doubt at all about that. It gives us the chance to set standards and a training regime for our own HGV drivers to match the needs of our economy and our workforce. That brings me—if I may anticipate the Minister—to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market. My understanding is that this is a domestic certificate that will operate in the whole of the UK, including Northern Ireland, but it will not of itself give any right for the driver to operate on the continent of Europe. For that there will remain the international certificate and the training regime, which will be compliant with European standards. This is wholly to be welcomed as allowing us to be more flexible and responsive.

Nobody has yet mentioned the question of safety. If the Minister says to the House that he believes this regime will result in a level of competence that will not compromise safety in itself, I am perfectly happy to accept that, but the point needs to be raised because safety in the driving of HGVs is a very important factor.

I feel very inadequate in following the speech of my noble friend Lord Attlee. It made me wonder how easy it is for an HGV driver to gain a life peerage. What a pity it is that the vandalism of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill would remove the only one we actually have. However, we have no objections to the instrument.