Letter to Road Haulage Forum Members

Road Haulage Forum members

On 18 March I announced a new package of help for hauliers following the end of the three year Road Haulage Modernisation Fund. The composition of this package was informed by an evaluation of RHMF projects prepared by my Department's In House Policy Consultancy (IHPC) unit. You may be interested to see their report, which I attach. I would like to thank those of you who contributed to this report through interviews with the IHPC team.

There are two cases where decisions relating to the new package may not at first sight appear to be consistent with the review's conclusions.

First, the IHPC report suggests that the market for fuel economy advice seminars as set up under the old road haulage modernisation fund was sated for the time being, and did not recommend continued funding for them. We have considered this carefully and believe that adjusting the scale and format of seminars offers the potential to secure further benefits from this programme.

Second, I announced a further phase of training using the truck driver simulator. The IHPC report said more work should be done to probe potential costs and benefits before further resources are committed to this project. I accept this point and have authorised a follow-on study to assess the benefits of this sort of training. However, I am mindful of the IHPC finding that demand for training places on the simulator had exceeded supply, and I intend therefore to allow more drivers to benefit from simulator training in the year ahead.

I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting of the road haulage forum on 26 April, where the new package of help for hauliers will be discussed.

Copies of the IHPC report, and of this letter, will be made available on the Department's website.

David Jamieson

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport

7 April 2004

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