Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many HGV drivers have been recruited under the new visa scheme announced at the end of September; and how many of those recruited are fuel tank drivers.

4700 visas will be available for HGV drivers delivering food ahead of Christmas 2021. This temporary visa scheme began processing visas in mid-October. Any discussions or data held by businesses or scheme operators are commercially sensitive. Separately, in a further step to manage supply chain pressures in the short term, the Government has introduced a bespoke scheme allowing up to 300 fuel tanker drivers to the UK on a temporary basis.