Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2021 to Question 7767 on Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Vacancies, what assessment she has made of whether HGV drivers should be added to the Shortage Occupation List.

Upon advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the Government broadened the eligibility of Skilled Worker visas from graduate jobs only to include jobs skilled to RQF level 3 (roughly equivalent to A-levels) and lowered the salary threshold to £25,600.

The MAC found the job of HGV driver does not meet this threshold, so it is not eligible to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa and cannot be added to the Shortage Occupation List.

Like other sectors the focus should be on training and recruiting from the UK based workforce in the first instance, especially given the impact of the pandemic resulting in more looking for secure new employment. Immigration policy will be considered alongside strategies to do this, not separately or as an alternative to doing so.