Committee of MPs urges tough line on logistics

THE COMMITTEE urges Ministers to give the logistics sector two years to deliver sufficient drivers, workers and facilities, including high-quality services and welfare.

Failure to do so should see the Government implement a Supply Chain Levy to assist in building facilities and training new drivers, conclude MPs. 

The Levy would require the parts of the supply chain where margins are greatest - such as large retailers, oil companies and online service giants - to deliver improved standards and resilience to the supply chain which they themselves require.

Such a mechanism must be accompanied by Government planning reforms, says the report. Government should recognise driver facilities as key national infrastructure assets.

The chair of the Transport Committee, Huw Merriman MP said: “We urge Government to be brave and force the sector to get its house in order. A Supply Chain Levy has worked previously to incentivise reform. If the industry won’t deliver change, Government should do so and send them the bill via increased taxes to those who produce and sell and make the most profits. This must be accompanied by minimum standards for planning, facilities and employers’ treatment of HGV drivers and seafarers. It’s the least we can ask for those who work so hard to deliver our goods to us.”

Logistics UK chief executive David Wells OBE,  said: “To place all the blame for the supply chain issues facing our industry at our door does our workers a great disservice, and totally ignores the role which the government and other agencies have played in creating staff recruitment and retention problems across the sector. 

“Despite operating on incredibly narrow margins - often of less than 1% - our sector has already made significant investment in the next generation of workers.

“The report’s overview of the sector’s recruitment issues is confused and misleading. Like nearly every other industry in the UK, logistics is facing issues caused by a combination of factors, none of which are within its’ control. These include an ageing workforce, the loss of European workers after Brexit and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on testing of new HGV drivers. The industry has already come together to create and fund a massive skills and recruitment campaign, aimed at young people, women and other under-represented groups.”

Wells concluded: “It’s disappointing that the Committee has taken so long to reach the wrong conclusions and not address the real public policy issues needing urgent attention.”

Cold Chain Federation chief executive Shane Brennan added: “Last year’s driver shortage crisis was a rude awakening for our nation, demonstrating just how reliant we are on a small number of dedicated front line professionals to drive the vehicles carrying the goods that feed, clothe and generally sustain us.

“There are lessons to learn for everyone: haulage companies, their customers, government and the consumer. This report contains lots of important insights into what happened, why and what we must learn for the future. Working together, we have made a lot of progress in a short space of time, especially in terms of recruitment and training. Also we can see evidence of improved investment in welfare across depots and facilities. However we have a long way to go and there is a big danger that complacency will return.

“It is a shame that despite the many good insights and testimony gathered for the report, that the headline recommendation is so poorly conceived and unnecessarily divisive. We reject the idea that a tax on haulage services is a good idea especially at a time of general inflation across supply chains, especially in food.

“Nor is it clear what the report authors believe can be achieved in the two year deadline they set, given they rightly identify the structural issues around national and local planning rules, highway infrastructure and market power dynamics that gave rise to the problems. All of these challenges require clear long term partnership between haulage companies, government and their customers. This will be achieved through open, committed partnership focused on common goals not seeking to single out blame, set arbitrary deadlines and make threats of punitive taxes.”