The European Commission has been proposing wide-ranging changes in EU and UK law on matters concerning road transport by lorry, bus and coach. These rules concern:
- those wishing to be road transport operators
- the carriage of goods by road within the Community, involving passing through the territory of one or more EU member states
- the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus
The Department for Transport (DfT) has been consulting about how it should respond to these proposed regulations. For more information about the proposed changes and the consultation (which closed on 29th February 2008) see "EU road transport proposals to establish common rules"
Skills for Logistics' response to those proposals is focused on the qualifications which should apply to road transport operators. The current provision for ‘Grandfather Rights’ would be withdrawn on 1 January 2012.
A copy of that response is available below. In summary we argue that:
- such new regulations represent a potential opportunity
- rather than having just one exam, the Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) for transport managers should become just one step in a progressive series of qualifications
- the new CPC should be integrated with other learning, training and qualification routes in the sector (apprenticeships and foundation degree programmes, for example) and provide a transferable qualification for employees of logistics businesses operating across Europe
- there should be exemptions for those with directly relevant qualifications
- given that sector skill councils (SSCs) are about to acquire responsibility for approving qualifications in their particular sector, Skills for Logistics should play a part in deciding which qualifications should permit exemption
- the UK should not support the EC proposal that every transport manager should be required to undertake 140 hours of training prior to taking the CPC. Individual transport managers' need for training in order to pass the exam will vary greatly. (At the end of February 2008, the Council of Ministers is seeking deletion of the 140 hours mandatory training proposals.)
- there will be a need to develop high quality training provision well in advance of the new CPC being brought into being. SSCs have a key role to play.
Consultation response: SfL argues case for CPD in response to consultation.
