Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address labour shortages in the (1) road haulage, (2) tourism, and (3) hospitality, sectors in the (a) short term, and (b) long term.

The Government is working to alleviate labour shortages in all sectors and is removing employment barriers by boosting wages via the National Living Wage, and furthering workers’ rights, which is particularly important for lower-paid sectors. The Government is also reforming the skills system to ensure an appropriately-skilled workforce.

To address haulage shortages, the Government took over 30 actions, including investing £34m in Skills Bootcamps to train over 11,000 people to become HGV drivers in England.

The newly-created Hospitality & Tourism Skills Board will focus on the medium-to-long term objectives of increasing recruitment, enhancing retention, and building an appropriately-skilled tourism workforce.