 The final item of business today is the member's business debate on motion number 14914 in the name of Chick Brody on HGV Driver Shorties in Scotland. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would be grateful if those members who wish to speak in the debate could press the request to speak buttons now, please. I call on Chick Brody to open the debate. Seven minutes, Mr Brody. Thank you, Presiding Officer. May I firstly thank all those who have remained for the debate, and say how pleased I am that we're having the debate this evening. I'd like to, before I start, thank three particular people, Geoff Campbell, Martin Reid and Willie MacArthur, Willie who first raised the issue with me some 18, 20 months ago, and also with Jim Eadie. The road haulage sector in Scotland is a major part, a fundamental part of the Scottish economy. It's net contribution is over £5 billion, and it contributes more than 5.5 per cent of the total Scottish GVA. It is also a vital component in helping to deliver Scotland's exports, which in themselves are a key component of Scotland's economic strategy where we are on track to double our exports over the period 2012 to 2017. It fuels the retail market. It secures manufacturing output through delivery of raw materials and components to industry, and it also harnesses indigenous industries such as farming and forestry as an example. There are an estimated 300,000 HGV drivers in the UK of which Scotland has approximately 30,000 or should have, but it is estimated that driver shortage in Scotland may be as high as 11,000. That is not, as I said, just a Scottish problem, but a fairly large one, as far as we are concerned. That shortage is compounded by data in a recent study by Manpower, which found that those roles are among the five hardest roles to fill in the job market. Because of the demographics, 16 per cent of drivers are due to retire in the next four to five years, with only 1 per cent of drivers under the age of 25 and combined with an appallingly low recruitment rate. Approximately 1,500 drivers have to be recruited each year in Scotland to address the shortfall, and this ticking economic time bomb is there. Contributing to this fact is that the sector is heavily dominated by men, with only 1 per cent of women employed in the industry. Those overall statistics are new. That has been a problem that has just sprung up. It has been steadily worsening over the years. The sector skills council has estimated that at times there have been six vacancies for every one driver. Today, there is no doubt that we have a serious issue of driver shortages in Scotland. I believe that there are three main areas that we need to tackle. Again, I emphasise the support and information that I have had from the industry, and those who live with the challenge day in, day out. First, skills agencies. We need to ensure that our skills agencies understand the scale of the problem facing the sector and have a skills strategy to tackle the issue. There are also many sectors within the HGV sector such as forestry, livestock and fuel movement, all of which have unique skillsets and all of which contribute to the overall challenge. All drivers now require the compulsory certificate of personal competence, the CPC, and also must carry a driver qualification card, which involves 35 hours of periodic training every five years. The CPC training can cost up to £3,000 per driver, and we need to work together to ensure that those are properly funded and that drivers remain and grow with the industry. Following a specific meeting last month, that following months of prior discussions with SDS, SDS will be carrying out an extensive consultation with the sector to assess the scale of the problem, the skillsets that are required, and what are the barriers to recruitment. The invitation to tender for this consultation is now on the public contracts Scotland portal, which closes, believe it or not, tomorrow. The consultation involves talking to the Scottish road haulage group, the road haulage association, the freight trade association. It also involves talking to the highly significant food and drink industry and other key sectors in Scotland. We should have that skills strategy by the end of March. Modern apprentice schemes, career development and loan opportunities in working with existing training providers will all be principal features of the strategy. Secondly, the logistics academy. We need to ensure that there is a pipeline of drivers coming through into the industry. As I said, only 1 per cent of the industry is under the age of 25. The principles of developing Scotland's young workforce would be enshrined in the development of a logistics academy in Scotland. To that end, we will be encouraging discussions to take place between the skills agencies, the schools, colleges, university sectors to ensure that we have a robust pipeline of professional drivers. The drivers, training agencies and employers, the ones that I have met, are very ready to play their part. Mark McDonald's. I am grateful to member for giving way. In discussions that I have had with hauliers in my constituency, one of the issues that they have highlighted is that it can often be more expensive for them to obtain insurance for drivers under the age of 25, despite the fact that they will hold all of their required qualifications. One of the member would agree with me that insurance firms need to be part of this discussion as well. Check noting. Mr McDonnell is absolutely right, and that has been part of the conversation. I am sure that he will address that in his address, but the insurance companies have to be a bit more realistic in what they are trying to achieve in the long term. The road haulage association has been working alongside Jobcentre Plus in the initiative of Driving Britain's Future, which gives unemployed people first-hand experience of the industry. Presiding Officer, we require a rush of such initiatives. Lastly, there is the barriers to recruitment. Addressing the issue of driver shortage will require a multi-faceted approach. We have talked about the availability and funding of training and development of a logistics academy, but to underpin that, underpin those is the urgent requirement to remove the barriers to entry to the industry. We need to ensure that funding for training allows people from other industries to be upskilled in Mr McDonnell's very valid point regarding insurance requirements. In the current financial scenario and restrictions across the board, this sector, because of its general importance to all economic sectors, should be seen as such when it comes to funding. One significant possibility might be that those who are leaving the army and the navy and the air force and who have appropriate skills might be upskilled. We will be looking to discuss those opportunities with the Cabinet Secretary for Veterans. We also need to ensure that more women can enter the industry more easily. The development of a logistics academy can play a major part in that, as can the flexibility of working and working hours for all drivers. Lastly, Presiding Officer, I wish to close by commending, as I did at the beginning, those in the industry. I mentioned Geoff Campbell, Martin Reid and Willie MacArthur, and there were many more. I want to thank them for their part in addressing this issue and raising it, and I thank them for their guidance and knowledge shared with me over the many meetings that I have held with them. That is an issue that I am sure will be addressed fully over a period of time, and I am delighted that the SDS will be producing a skilled strategy by the end of March. The road holiday industry is, without doubt, a major contributor to Scotland's economy and helps to drive forward our exports. We should, and we must, and we will support it. I turn to the open debate speeches of four minutes, please, and I call Angus MacDonald to be followed by David Stewart. At the outset, I submit my apologies as I will be unable to stay in the chamber for the whole debate as I have a meeting to attend, and I am hosting the James Watt celebration in the Garden Lobby. I am grateful to Chick Brody for bringing this debate to the chamber. As I feel that it is important that this pressing issue remains on the Scottish Government's radar until we can see a steady stream of new entrants into the holiday industry. I am also grateful to my colleague Christian Allard for tabling his motion in Parliament during the first national lorry week last October, which highlighted the love, the lorry-seamed events organised by the Road-Hollage Association, which allowed pupils around the country to learn more about the holiday industry. I have, of course, raised this issue in the chamber myself on a number of occasions in the past two or three months. I am grateful to the transport minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training for their responses. Local hauliers in my constituency have come to me to highlight their concerns regarding the very real problem of finding suitable drivers from home and even from abroad, with the Road-Hollage Association indicating that there is a shortage of 45,000 suitably qualified HGV licence holders in the UK. John Mitchell, the managing director of John Mitchell-Hollage in Grangemouth, employs more than 100 people and has a large fleet of trucks working around the clock. However, it is highlighted to me the difficulty of attracting new drivers to the industry. He came to me with a proposal that is now being actively discussed with Skills Development Scotland in which he would be willing to pay half the cost of training around 12 young drivers a year if SDS matched the funding. I am hopeful that something can come of that proposal, which seems a sensible way forward and an ideal solution towards helping to avoid a crisis. With the cost of training for a class 1 HGV-LGV licence at over £3,000, it is prohibitive for any future drivers, particularly if they are paying out their own pocket. A scheme that contributed a percentage of the costs of training drivers would, he believes, help to address the serious problem of declining numbers of drivers. In addition to meeting with Mitchell-Hollage, I also met with local livestock hauliers at Stewards of Bones in my constituency, who are also experiencing significant difficulty in attracting new drivers into the industry. Livestock haulage is a specialised work, and not everyone can drive a livestock transporter. Farmers and livestock hauliers have to be trained and passed tests to prove that they are competent. However, that has led to a shortage of qualified drivers with the average age of livestock hauliers, now believed to be 55. That is the figure for the general haulage industry as well. Despite high salaries, in some cases, in excess of £40,000 a year to key men, more are leaving the industry than joining. They are being enticed to other haulage jobs by competitive salaries and a generally cleaner environment with non-livestock haulage. None of the stress attached to moving livestock over long distances and trying to meet what many regard as impossible timetables are. As we know, livestock hauliers are required to observe working-time directive rules, which can be hard to do when working with auction marts, avatoires and, of course, the animals. Livestock hauliers can only drive a maximum of 90 hours in a fortnight or run the risk of hefty fines. Of course, during the hectic autumn sale or back-end season, there aren't enough livestock hauliers to move all the animals in the limited number of driving hours that are allowed. So much as I hate using the word, as I think it's overused in this chamber, I do feel we are facing a crisis, and that's the view throughout the haulage industry. As I mentioned earlier, figures from the Road Haulage Association show that the UK is currently 45,000 drivers short, 35,000 drivers are due to retire, and the next year, excluding those who have had to leave for medical reasons or have found another job, there are only 17,000 entering the industry annually. The RHA has called for the UK Treasury to make £100 million available for industry funding through a targeted, time-limited scheme, and hopefully the UK Government is listening and will progress that. However, in the meantime, the Scottish Government can play its part, and I was encouraged to receive confirmation from the Transport Minister before Christmas that Skills Development Scotland is exploding a range of options to address the driver of the industry. Could you draw ticklows, please? Indeed, we all recognise that the road freight industry is the lifeblood of Scotland and the UK's economy, so we almost play our part in ensuring that we literally keep Scotland moving. Thank you. I now call David Stewart to be followed by Joan McAlpine. I congratulate Chick Brody for securing tonight's very important debate. I share all of Chick Brody's conclusions that shortage of H3 drivers poses a very real and present threat to both the Scottish and, indeed, the UK economy. I have a particular interest as part of the ICI committee that we spent some time taking evidence on freight, which involved meeting a number of large hauliers. That is why I can echo Chick Brody's well-researched speech this evening. If you look around this chamber and the Parliament as a whole, most of the fact that what you can see from the glass in my hand to the chairs that we have here has been delivered by a lorry at some part of the journey to get here. In fact, more than 85 per cent of all goods that are bought in the UK are carried by a lorry at some stage in the supply chain. As previous members rightly said, the Road Hullage Association, which represents more than 8,000 haulage companies, states that there is a shortage between 45,000 to 50,000 drivers in the UK. Without which, if we do not get those drivers, the industry will grind quite literally to a halt. The statistics are very stark. According to the Office for National Statistics and the Labour Force Survey, 62 per cent of track drivers are 45 years or older, and the sector's average age is 53, 13 per cent of which are over 60. Most worrying for me, only 2 per cent of drivers are under the age of 25. That means, as we heard from Chick Brody earlier, that a fifth of the HGV driver workforce will reach retirement age in the next 10 years, and whilst there has been a drop of 45 per cent drop in the number of individuals obtaining the HGV licence in the past five years. In short, thousands of older drivers are leaving the industry, and there are too many barriers. Mark McDonald, who intervened earlier, was quite right to touch on the point of insurance. That has certainly been echoed to me in the hands of islands with the numerous college companies contacting me about this particular issue. That is a barrier preventing young people from replacing them. We have to do something about those barriers. The biggest issue is simply getting driving into the radar of school leavers. A Westminster equivalent of our cross-party groups described career guidance within the logistics sector, and I quote, as limited or non-existent. Back in 2009, the UK Government lowered the minimum age for driving a track from 21 to 18, but it seems that, in my experience, and I could be wrong in this, it only seems to be family firms that have taken advantage of this change. That is unsurprising, given that the cross-party group that I mentioned earlier said, and I quote, that insurance is the major cost to the industry. Prices are so high that companies are presented with a disincentive to invest in young people to calm drivers, so they are missing out on the formative years of a young person's career path. Furthermore, I have spoken to NISCRE training services that is a company that undertakes HV driver training in De Fries. The manager of the training facility said to my manager that the whole situation was, and I quote, a catch-22. There is funding available for apprenticeships geared towards those of appropriate age, but they have to be employed by a company before they are eligible for funding. What uses that is if a young person is wanting to enter the HV driving profession, but they are not employed? Where will you find the £3,000 to fund yourself through that HV driving and test? My colleague Rhoda Grant mentioned to me earlier that she was in touch with a Western Isles company that did not want to be named, who said that it is exactly the same problem and said that it is a huge disincentive to try to take on young people. I would highlight the good work that the Roadhouse Association is taking a lead on, and it is mentioned in the motion. The driving Britain's future, the new project with Jobs Centre Places, is an excellent initiative. In conclusion, I congratulate Chick Brody again for this. It is a very important issue for Scotland and for this Parliament. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I welcome the opportunity to speak today, and I am also grateful to my college Chick Brody MSP for bringing this debate to the chamber, and I congratulate him for that. The value of the logistics industry to Scotland's economy has already been highlighted. As our economy improves, driver shortages are likely to cause difficulties for Scotland's supply chains, so it is imperative that we need to address the skills gap now. The sector is extremely important to my region, in particular in South Scotland, and I would like to take the opportunity to recognise two free-space companies, Nithcree Training, which has already been mentioned and Currie European, for their efforts in encouraging more people to train as HGV drivers. I spoke to the leaders of both these companies in advance of the debate to get a first-hand view on what the challenges were and how to overcome them. In Nithcree Training, I spoke to the director, Elizabeth Campbell, to find out more about the shortages. She, as others have mentioned, highlighted the cost of HGV training, which can be prohibitive. In fact, she said that taking someone from scratch up to being trained in every kind of HGV and every kind of load could cost around £5,000 in both certificates and licences. People in this chamber will know that I am a great supporter of the arts as co-convener of the cross-party group on culture. However, I would be remiss if I did not mention that Elizabeth was rather frustrated at hearing of a friend's relative who had embarked on a college course in photography and was able to access £6,000 by the way of bursaries and grants. She found it very frustrating that there was absolutely nothing wrong with doing college courses in photography. It is great that the Government is obviously focused on college courses that have outcomes. However, here we have a skills gap in the HGV industry, and certainly others with Campbell at Nithcree Training feel rather frustrated that they could access this kind of package to training photography, but not as an HGV driver where there was a big gap. Over at Currie European, they have an absolutely excellent apprenticeship scheme for young people and take them from school and have a great relationship with the local schools. However, Tom Barry, the owner of Currie European, when I spoke to him about this, said that, while they are absolutely committed to their apprenticeship scheme and will remain committed to it, the cost of insurance was very prohibitive. They were looking at any assistance that they could get in that. Mr Barry also mentioned that a lot of their recruitment will come from people changing careers. What should be mentioned is that HGV driving is a good career. It suits many people—it suits everybody—but for many people it is very well paid, comparatively much higher than the average. However, to move into that career, you have to take 18 weeks off, as well as finding the funding, as I mentioned before, for the licence and the training. In addition, Mr Barry mentioned the burden of CPC, which is a UK Government issue. He also mentioned, which I thought was interesting, that the UK Government has taken away tax breaks for drivers who are on overnight journeys. That is not a huge amount of money, but it makes a big difference in terms of the attractiveness of the career. He was looking to put more pressure on the UK Government to address that particular issue. As others have said, it is affecting the economy as a whole. Mr Barry employs more than 300 people at Currie European. He said that, because of the shortages, he was having to turn work away. If he is turning work away and if he cannot, it means that the companies that need to get goods to people are not getting them to people in time. It has an effect on the whole economy, not just the road-haulage industry. For that reason, I am keen to highlight it in this important debate and hope that we can all work together to find a solution for the industry and the economy as a whole. I congratulate Chick Brody on securing today's important debate. It is very important, particularly for my region of the Highlands and Islands and, indeed, for the whole of Scotland. I also acknowledge the good work that Chick Brody and other members have done to raise the profile of the issue. I am pleased that I have been able to work on the subject as well. At the outset, I paid tribute to the first-class efforts of those involved in the Scottish road haulage group, particularly Geoff Campbell and William MacArthur, both of whom have vast practical experience in working in the haulage sector and who have such a passion for the industry. They have helped brief, interested MSPs, and I hope that they will continue to do so, as will the RHA, who has also done such good work. I commend all those HGV drivers who work so hard in Scotland to keep our shops, our businesses, our hospitals, our schools, our universities and all our other services supplied with goods. They transport agricultural livestock, timber, fish and farmed fish and allow companies to get their products to the market across Scotland, the UK and worldwide. As a livestock farmer myself for many years, I relied so heavily on that industry to move cattle and sheep to markets, often under very difficult conditions on small roads. They also helped the drivers who used to help with the loading and the unloading, and then at the end of the day they had to clean the lorries. I know how hard these people work. Their job is an unending, but they are often unsung heroes, and that is the point. They are the lifeblood of the whole economy in Scotland, and we often take them for granted, but we should be very grateful to them. I also know that the sector is continuing to face this winter's particular challenges of bad weather and flooding, which has caused transport disruption. The continuing ban on HDVs using the fourth road bridge has piled extra costs on hauliers. The blocking by landslide of the A83 on the Rest and Be Thankful has proved extra problems for hauliers, especially those from Kintyre. As Chick Brody has said, the contribution of haulage to Scotland's economy is massive, but the sector is facing significant problems in recruiting new drivers to the sector. That is vital for the long-term future. Over 38 per cent of drivers are aged 45 or over, so we need to be working to address the challenge now and with great urgency. In terms of young new entrants, I support the industry in calling for a structure to be in place to promote HDV driving to school pupils at secondary school before they are lost to other sectors. It is a great industry to come into. There is the particular difficulty that youngsters have to be 18 before they can gain their HDV licence. How do we then keep 16-year-old school leavers interested in the sector, and how can we support them in that period until they are 18 and can gain a licence? That is really important, I think. Funding for skills and training must also be flexible enough to support those in the 25-plus age group who many hauliers are seeking to attract as drivers, not least as employer's insurance premiums are less onerous than with the younger drivers. That includes those who are currently self-employed and who are seeking training to help upskill, retrain or transfer their skills. I want to see skills development Scotland offer as much support as possible to the self-employed in those categories, as well as to those who are unemployed. To conclude, Presiding Officer, I am delighted that this debate is taking place as the road haulage sector is intrinsically important to almost every aspect of the Scottish economy and we must ensure that it is underpinned by a sustainable number of drivers as we go forward. There is much work to be done to prevent a potential recruitment crisis and so I urge ministers to engage now with the Scottish road haulage group and the RHA and to respond to the specific suggestions and ideas that they have about tackling the challenges that we have heard about this evening. Many thanks. I now call Christian Allard to be followed by Mark McDonald. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like, first of all, to congratulate Chief Brodyd for getting cross-party support for emotion and I know he got a lot of help from many people along the way and some of them are listening to the debate tonight. It's an industry close to my heart, the road haulage industry. Yes, Presiding Officer, I came to this country 30 years ago to open a road haulage office in Blocken Road in Glasgow. I literally came to this country in a track and I was more than an office manager then as I took every opportunity to drive one of our 143 Scania on the small Highland roads to collect farm salmon for export and I was very pleased to contribute to the export effort from Scotland 30 years ago. You have to believe me, Presiding Officer, the Highland looked fantastic aboard a track putting 38 tonnes load of fresh fish but I did not employ women at the time and when we talk about recruitment it's so important that we concentrate on both genders and women drivers. There are a lot of them on the road and maybe we don't realise this. A lot of women are driving one specific type of track. If you don't believe me, next time you drive on Scotland Highway, have a look. Every, most of them, if not every, AGV horse boxes are driven by women so that really kills the myth that some women cannot drive tracks and of course there is television too. I don't know if you are watching on Channel 5. The Ice Road Trackers is a reality TV series where Lisa Kelly is an American tracker who has been featured in the television series and she was the only female tracker featured in the series but now Maya Sabre joined in the last season and prior to her appointment as a nice road tracker Kelly worked as a school bus driver and trained as a tracker because it looked interesting and it's very much an appealing for women to come into the industry. As a condition for driving absolutely not ideal close to the north pole for any track drivers, Lisa and Maya are the living proof that driving AGVs is something that can be easily mastered by women. There are now more and more women AGV drivers coming into this industry every day and choosing driving as a carrier AGV driver training centres and noticing an influx of women entering and wanting to train in category C and C and E licenses. The industry used to be mostly ruled by men however it is changing and many women are now involved behind the desk and behind the wheel. The number is rapidly increasing with the amount of opportunities out there in the industry as the moment that job vacancies in Scotland are quite a lot of them are being said and across the UK. Attitudes are changing also as women are fully qualified and have completed the same training as their male counterparts, they know what they are doing. The road haulage association is said to launch a new campaign and the resources centre to highlight the logistics work done by women and the opportunities available for women entering the sector. The campaign will be called She's RHA. She's RHS's primary aim is to encourage a national debate about the role of women in the sector, showcasing a variety of successful women and encouraging a forum within which female workers can swap experiences, information and achievement. She's RHA will be launched soon south of the border and I would like members and the minister to join me to encourage the road haulage association to bring the She's RHA campaign to Scotland as soon as possible. I'm sure that we'll receive cross-party support in this parliament. I was pleased to back the first ever National Lawry League week organised by the RHA as Angus Macleod reminded his chamber earlier. I received cross-party support under the motion on the 7th and Parliament and noted that the aim of National Lawry League is to raise the profile of the industry. There will be the Love's Lawry theme campaign again this year and I can tell you what I participated with Peter Dree in Aberdeen and as soon as somebody showed young school children how to work the horn it was impossible to hear ourselves so it's quite a very good event. So the voice of the industry needs to be heard and I thank you again for bringing it to our attention. This is an industry open to all genders, a vital industry and an industry for the future. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I congratulate my colleague Chick Brody on securing this debate. Listening to Christian Allard's speech when he was speaking about media depictions of female lorry drivers, I was struck while thinking about this debate and thinking about the issue around female lorry drivers growing up watching the cartoon Pigeon Street, where one of the main characters was a female long-distance lorry driver called Clara. Perhaps what we need is more media depictions of female drivers to encourage more women to consider that it is a career choice that is viable and open to them. More broadly, we need to ensure that where there are media portrayals in relation to the haulage industry, there are positive media portrayals because we know that in the past there have been some issues around negative portrayals and the impact that that can have on attracting people into the industry. I want to cover a couple of specific areas in this debate. The first is that it is around opportunities that can arise from difficulties in sectors. We know that the haulage industry is currently going through difficulties and I believe that it requires somewhere in the region of 1,500 drivers a year for the next 10 years in order to try and bridge the gap in terms of the skill shortages that have been identified. In my area and in Christian Allard's area, the oil and gas industry is currently experiencing a downturn with large numbers of individuals facing potential redundancy. In light of representations that have been made to me by haulage companies in my constituency, most notably I had a meeting with Jason Moyer of Dice Carriers and Bill Walker of William Walker Transport based in my constituency. In light of the discussions that I have had with them, coupled with the issues that are facing the offshore sector, I have written to the First Minister and asked whether the road haulage association should be considered for involvement in the energy jobs task force. I believe that, first and foremost, our efforts should be to prevent redundancy in the offshore sector wherever possible, but I also believe that, if there are going to be redundancies taking place, we should look at whether opportunities can arise as a result of that, which organisations such as the RHA and the haulage industry could potentially capitalise on in terms of people potentially reskilling and retraining. That brings me on to the point around training. I welcome the response that I received from the cabinet secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, when she wrote to me to advise that, where small businesses can apply for up to £5,000 towards employee training costs, it would refund up to 50 per cent of each employee training up to a maximum of £500. The difficulty that is being faced by a lot of haulage industry firms is that, in order for individuals to obtain employment, they need to have undertaken that training and passed their HGV tests prior to becoming employed by those companies. What we need to do—and it is an issue not just for the Scottish Government but the UK Government as well—is that we need to look at what support can be put in place where possible to support individuals, particularly individuals who are looking to reskill from another career to enter into the haulage industry if there is support that can be provided to enable them to do so. £3,000 to cover training is not an unsubstantial sum of money, particularly if an individual has either faced a redundancy or is looking to move from one career into another. That brings me to the point around the insurance point that I raised in the debate. I think that the insurance firms absolutely have to be part of this conversation. If an individual is qualified as an HGV driver, it should not matter whether they are 21 or 31, there should not be age-based discrimination in relation to insurance. If an individual has undertaken the required qualifications but runs the risk of potentially losing out on a position because it would cost more for the company to provide insurance for them, then that is something that needs to be addressed. I welcome the debate being brought by Chick Brody. I welcome the action that he has highlighted that is taking place. I think that there is more that perhaps needs to be done in terms of some organisations that need to be brought into the bigger tent around the discussion, but I am positive that there are opportunities out there. It is a question of whether they can be capitalised upon. Many thanks. Just before I call the minister to respond and for the record, I feel I must remind members that if they choose to participate in a member's debate, they should be available for the whole debate. In the rare circumstances where that is not possible, then it is courteous to notify the Presiding Officer in advance. Further, events in this building should not commence until the business of Parliament is concluded. I welcome this evening's debate. I am grateful to Chick Brody for securing the parliamentary time to highlight that important issue. Indeed, to all those members who have participated, there have been a number of important contributions and very reflective and thoughtful contributions made this evening. I would also like to echo Jamie McGregor's praise for HGV drivers individually. That is an important point to make. They work very hard to keep Scotland's economy moving. In this sector, as in so many other sectors, we hear once again of the hands-on experience of our member Christian Allar in terms of his former life. He has had so many former lives, but one of them is an HGV driver, so that adds to the debate. The Scottish Government recognises the important role of freight as an enabler for economic growth, so we must try to do what we can to match up the available opportunities in the road haulage sector with those who seek employment. Supporting individuals and employers to develop the necessary skills is an important aspect of the equation. Through Skills Development Scotland, we support people to do that through programmes such as the modern apprenticeship programme. That is where we can add value, helping employers by contributing towards the cost of training. For members' interests, there is already a freight logistics MA framework in this area. There is a public contribution available for four pathways across all age groups at levels 2 and 3. From 2011-12 through to quarter 2 in 2015-16, the total number of MAs here was 6,041. In an additional standalone category at the time, driving goods vehicles at a further 1,171 can be added to that total. The contribution, importantly, was available to those over 25. As far as the HGV licence acquisition and the EU driver certificate of professional competence are concerned, those matters are, indeed, as members have said, reserved to Westminster. The general provision of funding for that is not within our gift. At the same time, members will be aware that Job Centre Plus functions in Scotland are also reserved, but notwithstanding those constraints, there is, nonetheless, an important role here for Skills Development Scotland to establish, working collaboratively with industry, what the skills and training needs of the sector are, and to offer advice and guidance to individuals seeking to work in road college, as well as employers who need to recruit. I would strongly encourage any employer, particularly in this sector, but indeed in any other sector, to engage with Skills Development Scotland at the earliest stage possible to address their likely skills and training needs going forward. In that regard, SDS has worked with industry and partners to develop skills investment plans in a number of sectors. They set out a clear statement of the sector's needs, they highlight the key skills priorities and, importantly, they include an action plan to address the identified skills issues and thereby ensure that education and training aligns with future skills needs. As Chief Brodie has mentioned, Skills Development Scotland is now working with the Road College Association to consider the skills needs of HIV drivers and to establish a sound evidence base. In fact, SDS has issued its invitation to quote on 6 January this year in respect of research aimed at gathering that key information, and it is hoped that a skills focus plan of action will be in place by the end of March of this year. I hear particularly the pleas for the livestock haulage sector and I will ensure that those pleas, which were made very comprehensively, will be brought to the attention of SDS tomorrow in regard to the work that they are doing here. It has to be acknowledged that the shortage of skilled workers is not unique to the freight transport industry and hence employers looking to recruit HIV drivers are in competition with other employers. To be successful, therefore, employers need, I believe, to be proactive and have an attractive offering. In that respect, I welcome recent activity by the two freight trade associations, being the RHA and the Freight Transport Association, in their campaigns to increase visibility of career opportunities in the industry among young people and in particular among young women. As we have heard, there is poor gender balance in the road haulage sector, so there is a real opportunity for the sector together to consider how they attract more women so that they can widen the pool of talent available. I would be happy to meet with Christian Allard to discuss the RHA campaign to which he referred. I am perhaps too old to have seen the cartoon to which Mr MacDonald referred, but I think that he has the genesis of a very good idea there, because that is a means of communication. It is how you communicate the message that is very important. On the issue of young people, I would be speaking to a large company that uses haulage or is involved in haulage not so long ago. Anecdotally, they felt that the fact that a young person is not taken on fairly quickly after school is a problem, because young people are then walking with their feet and they are choosing to do something else, to look elsewhere to get their training and to earn a wage whilst they do so. That is a problem, but at the same time I recognise an issue raised by David Stewart and by Mark McDonald and others, that insurance is a big obstacle. It is a huge outlay, and work needs to be done with the insurance sector as well to see what reasonable steps can be taken in that regard. It is clear that there has been a lot of activity. The Scottish Government works well with the trade associations and also with the Scottish Freight and Logistics advisory group. Much debate has been taking place, including—again, it was a point that Chick Brody referred to—with respect to work to ensure that we do not lose what are, in essence, in principle transferable skills of our veterans in the area of HGV activity and in many other sectors. Keith Brown held a meeting in December 2015 with military representatives, and it was recognised that our veterans have a number of key skills and experience. The task at hand, therefore, going forward will be to identify both barriers and opportunities in facilitating access to employment for our veterans to ensure that their skillset is embraced and not lost to the Scottish economy. In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone who has participated in the debate. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of a skilled workforce and its contribution to supporting economic growth. It is beyond doubt that the Scottish economy needs efficient, sustainable and robust freight transport in order to meet growing customer demands and to compete effectively in a global economy. I am confident that, through the Scottish Government's well-established partnership with freight stakeholders and others, we can work together, as stressed by Joan McAlpine, working collaboratively together to address the challenges that lie ahead, but, in addressing those challenges, we wish to make Scotland a place where businesses can indeed grow and flourish. That concludes Czech Brody's debate at HGV Driver Shortages in Scotland, and I now close this meeting of Parliament.