Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on the number of heavy goods vehicle drivers in the UK.

The Department for Transport has regular discussions with the road haulage industry. We are working together to address the current HGV driver shortage, which is an issue affecting many countries worldwide. For example, the International Road Transport Union predicts a gap of 185,000 drivers by 2027 in Germany.

The Government has already taken firm action, including through training for jobseekers, additional funding for apprenticeships, and taking measures to increase lorry driver testing capacity to bring new drivers into the industry as soon as possible.