Examination of witnesses
(Questions 331 - 339)
WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER
MR JAMES
HOOKHAM, MR
LAWRENCE CHRISTENSEN
and MR GEOFF
DOSSETTER
Chairman
331. Good morning, gentlemen. I am very
grateful to you for coming to see us this morning. I wonder if
you would like to identify yourselves for the record?
(Mr Hookham) Thank you, Chairman, and good morning.
My name is James Hookham. I am the Executive Director of Transport
Policy at the Freight Transport Association. On my right is Lawrence
Christensen who is Logistics Director of Safeway Stores plc and
is the current President of the FTA. He will be able to contribute
a perspective of someone who is responsible for supplying the
nation with food and drink. On my left is Geoff Dossetter who
is FTA's Head of External Affairs. We are very grateful to the
Committee for extending an invitation to us to present oral evidence.
I wonder if I might make a few introductory remarks at the beginning?
332. Please do, Mr Hookham.
(Mr Hookham) Thank you very much. As I hope the
Committee is aware from our written evidence, FTA represents the
transport interests of 12,000 British businesses which range from
small family concerns to multinational conglomerates. All our
members share a common interest in improving the efficiency of
freight transport, whether as users or as operators. Our members
operate about half the lorries on the roads, are responsible for
over 90 per cent of the freight carried by rail in Britain and
are major shippers of freight in the export markets by deep-sea
container shipping services and by air cargo. FTA welcomes the
publication of the Integrated Transport White Paper and the public
debate which preceded it and has continued since. This has enabled
us to put the case for efficient, sustainable freight transport
policies as part of the wider economic/social agenda. We believe
that the Government does recognise the essential economic nature
of freight transport and the contribution that efficient management
of industry's supply chains makes to the competitiveness of British
companies. Nevertheless, we do have some concerns, and in our
written evidence we have attempted to share those with you, including
the questions we are asking at the moment, in the hope that the
Committee might pursue some of those issues on our behalf during
its inquiry. In assessing our contribution to the debate, the
Committee should bear in mind that we have one simple but consistent
measure of the effectiveness of government policy, which is in
the interests of competitiveness and economic prosperity, and
we commend this to the Committee. That simple measure is, does
the policy improve the cost, the efficiency and the sustainability
of industry's supply chains? Thank you.
333. Thank you very much. What would the
FTA like to see in a strategic plan prepared by the Government?
(Mr Hookham) I think we are particularly concerned
at seeing the recognition of the essential nature of freight transport,
seeing it as part of the over-economic activity in the economy,
recognising that of course goods have no value until they are
delivered to their customer, be that in this country or abroad;
and increasingly that the ways in which British businesses remain
competitive is by the efficient management of those supply chains,
managing very carefully the flow of goods from the point of origin
to the point of destination. It is through the development of
very high levels of skill and efficiency in management of those
stocks that many British businesses have been able to compete
on an increasingly competitive European and global stage.
334. Those are given truths, Mr Hookham.
What specific things?
(Mr Hookham) I think we have a number of issues
at different levels. On a domestic agenda, I think we are particularly
concerned at access to towns and cities. We are very concerned
about the way in which congestion is delaying the deliveries into
our towns and cities, it is hindering their efficiency and competitiveness.
The Committee will be aware that we have been working very closely
with local government in a number of particular towns and cities,
to look at the specific issues which are arising there and to
attempt to find solutions, with other stakeholders in those towns
and communities, to ensure the efficient distribution of goods
to those businesses and retail outlets.
Chairman: So you have
a number of people interested now. Dr Whitehead.
Dr Whitehead
335. Could I start by asking you about an
issue which regularly comes my way from freight hauliers, and
that is the concern about the increase in fuel duty which is currently
envisaged by Government—6 per cent on average above inflation
per annum. You have claimed, and a number of individual companies
have claimed, that this is simply a tax on efficiency, that companies
in some instances have even been driven abroad and so on. Do you
accept that as part of a general strategy for attempting to combat
the rise in CO2 emissions in this country in general,
the freight industry has a role to play?
(Mr Hookham) Yes, of course we do, and one of
our principal concerns and arguments about the fuel duty escalator
is that we see very little evidence that this key government policy
in attempting to achieve its targets in CO2 reduction
is actually having any effect. We come at this from the point
that if we accept that the objective is actually to reduce CO2
emissions, we are very worried that we have a very damaging government
policy in place here, but which is showing very few signs of actually
achieving its objectives, so everybody loses. Industry is suffering
from this very aggressive tax, whilst at the same time we see
no real progress—for reasons I shall be prepared to explain
in more detail—on allowing businesses to achieve the efficiencies
they need in order to make progress on these CO2 targets.
336. So how would you suggest one might
make progress?
(Mr Hookham) In our evidence, and also to the
Cleaner Vehicles Task Force, we are proposing to address one of
the fundamental shortcomings of the current policy, which is that
it does drain a lot of tax out of business, particularly smaller
businesses that are unable to pass those increased costs on, and
this of course is cash in the business that could be diverted
into the CO2 reduction measures which I presume the
Government is hoping to see.
337. So, with respect, you are saying leave
the money in the companies' hands and they will do the work?
(Mr Hookham) That is one measure. Another measure
which we proposed is that the money could actually be recycled
back into the businesses through some protected voucher scheme
by which those vouchers could be traded in for the kind of measures
which will actually bring about efficiencies.
338. What would those be?
(Mr Hookham) Driver training, where there is a
good record of efficiency in vehicles being seen there; in the
technology and equipment which is needed to be fitted to vehicles
to reduce polluting emissions. Also, of course, the best thing
an operator can do at the moment, in terms of improving emissions
from vehicles, is actually to buy a new one, because new vehicles
being put on the road today are far less polluting than vehicles
built a few years ago.
339. With respect, yes, but the vehicles
which will be put on the road may be less polluting in terms of
some elements of greenhouse gas, but they do not significantly
chuck out less CO2 than has previously been the case.
You are telling us that better driver training and buying new
vehicles is going to make this change. It does not add up, does
it?
(Mr Hookham) I think that the more modern the
technology, the more up to date the equipment is, the more efficient
it is, the less erosion occurs of its inefficiencies because of
wear and tear. I think that in many cases it is far easier to
maintain low emission levels from newer vehicles than it is from
older ones because they are approaching the end of their life,
they are wearing out.
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