Extraordinary Session: Driver shortages and effects on supply chains

The UK's supply lines faced severe strain towards the end of Summer 2021 with KFC, Nando’s, Greggs, and McDonalds being among the major chains that were affected, with products unavailable and some branches unable to open. Supermarkets also had stock and supply chain challenges. Staff shortages were being reported in haulage and food production and while these issues were being reported in other countries, the UK seemed to be worst affected.

This session of the UK Trade and Business Commission sought clarity on what was happening to supply chains, why Britain seemed to be particularly badly affected, if this was a long-term problem, and how the situation could be improved.

Expert witnesses were asked which factors they consider to be causing these issues and were be asked about driver shortages, immigration policies, food security, complex supply chains, and Brexit. With their frontline experience we can began to understand what the government needs to do to fix the problems and stop further disruption to our supply chains.

Aodhán Connolly chaired this session.

Witnesses

• Andrew Opie, Director of Food and Sustainability, British Retail Consortium

• Richard Harrow, Chief Executive, British Frozen Food Federation

• Alex Veitch, General Manager of Public Policy, Logistics UK

Andrew Opie, Director of Food and Sustainability, British Retail Consortium

Andrew Opie is the Director of Food and Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium and leads a team who work on all policy and legislative issues related to food. Issues they cover include the sourcing, production, distribution and sale of food. Andrew also leads other campaign work within the trade association relating to food. He has been with the British Retail Consortium for 12 years and has also held previous roles at the National Farmers Union and as a Rural Surveyor.

Richard Harrow, Chief Executive, British Frozen Food Federation

Richard Harrow currently works as the Chief Executive of the British Frozen Food Federation and has spent over 22 years in the frozen food industry. His previously role was as the managing director of Freiburger UK. In this role, he helped the business become one of the countries leading supplier of own-label frozen pizza. Alongside this, he acted as a former chairman of the Pizza, Pasta & Italian Food Association. Richard also has experience working as a consultant to private-label food suppliers.

Alex Veitch, General Manager of Public Policy, Logistics UK

Alex is Logistics UK’s General Manager of Public Policy and specialises in rail, air and maritime policy whilst also being experienced in customs trade and European policy. He has worked at Logistics UK since 2015 and also worked on a secondment to HMRC Customs EU Exit team. Alex’s background has been primarily across both the transport and sustainability sectors and has previously worked in both Paris and Washington DC for different companies within these sectors.