Freight Council
The Freight Council is a cross-modal freight forum to drive collaboration between government and the freight sector.
A collaboration between government and industry, the Freight Council brings together Department for Transport (DfT) ministers, representatives from across government and chief executive officer-level representatives from all freight modes to consider and collaborate on cross-cutting issues relevant to the freight sector.
The Freight Council meets quarterly. Its first milestone as a group was the publication of the Future of Freight plan, which it co-developed with government.
The Council focuses on the implementation of the plan alongside providing an ongoing strong voice for freight across government, reflecting its critical importance to the national economy.
The Freight Council sits at the apex of government engagement with the freight sector, but the government will continue to develop and embed cross-Whitehall and industry engagement at all levels as it implements its long-term plan for freight.
Chair
The council is co-chaired by the DfT minister responsible for Future of Freight and an independent industry representative (currently Isabel Dedring).
Members
Members are:
- Paul Adams, Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK
- Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive Officer, Airlines UK
- Richard Ballantyne, Chief Executive Officer, British Ports Association
- Clare Bottle, Chief Executive Officer, UK Warehousing Association
- Shane Brennan, Chief Executive Officer, Cold Chain Federation
- Karen Dee, Chief Executive Officer, Airport Operators Association
- Geraint Evans, Chief Executive Officer, UK Major Ports Group
- Amanda Francis, Chief Executive Officer, Association of International Courier and Express Services
- Maggie Simpson OBE, Director General, Rail Freight Group
- Richard Smith, Managing Director, Road Haulage Association
- Jacqueline Starr, Chief Executive Officer, Rail Delivery Group
- Sarah Treseder, Chief Executive Officer, UK Chamber of Shipping
- David Wells, Chief Executive Officer, Logistics UK
- Robert Windsor, Executive Director, British International Freight Association
- Senior officials from DfT and other government departments
Freight Council meeting minutes
Terms of reference
Aim
The Freight Council provides a forum for engagement across all modes for the freight and logistics sector and government to consider cross-cutting issues relevant to the sector. Its overarching objective is to ensure the freight sector in the UK continues to provide a world-class service that supports the UK’s growth and global competitiveness.
Role
The primary role of the Freight Council is to provide strategic thought leadership and input into the delivery of the long-term Future of Freight plan by identifying evidence-based priorities for the sector and developing and agreeing solutions on an industry-government partnership-based approach.
The Freight Council will also be utilised to help coordinate sector-wide responses to more immediate freight resilience issues that may arise.
In setting priorities, the forum will avoid duplicating other government work programmes. The forum may consider matters that will feed into major initiatives from a cross-modal freight perspective.
The council is additional to established relationships between the sector and government, including those structured on a modal or policy issue basis.
Responsibilities
The Freight Council has a collective responsibility to work collaboratively to ensure an evidence-based and solutions-focused approach is taken to addressing long-term cross-cutting challenges and opportunities in the freight sector. All attendees have a responsibility to:
- provide the best available evidence in support of challenges identified and work to collectively improve the evidence base for freight sector challenges and opportunities (including economic analysis)
Industry representatives have a responsibility to:
- be the conduit for industry engagement, via communicating outputs of the councils to their stakeholders and providing stakeholder feedback
- maintain an ethos of whole-industry collaboration, working in a non-competitive way for the benefit of the sector overall
Government representatives have a responsibility to:
- coordinate the work of government departments in response to agreed actions
- maintain impartiality (and commercial confidentially if commercial information is provided or shared in the forum)
Membership
Ministerial
The council is co-chaired by Guy Opperman MP, the minister from DfT responsible for Future of Freight, and Isabel Dedring as the independent industry representative. Ministers from other departments are invited and copied into correspondence as appropriate.
Industry
Senior representatives from trade associations representing all parts of the freight sector form the standard membership, as follows:
| Sector | Trade Association |
|---|---|
| Cross-modal | Logistics UK |
| Road freight | Road Haulage Association |
| Rail freight and rail infrastructure | Rail Freight Group |
| Rail freight and rail infrastructure | Rail Delivery Group |
| Ports and shipping | UK Major Ports Group |
| Ports and shipping | British Ports Association |
| Ports and shipping | UK Chamber of Shipping |
| Air freight and airports | Airport Operators Association |
| Air freight and airports | Airlines UK |
| Logistics providers, freight forwarders and warehousing | UK Warehousing Association |
| Logistics providers, freight forwarders and warehousing | Association of International Courier and Express Services |
| Logistics providers, freight forwarders and warehousing | Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport |
| Logistics providers, freight forwarders and warehousing | British International Freight Association |
| Logistics providers, freight forwarders and warehousing | Cold Chain Federation |
Government departments
Senior officials from DfT’s freight and logistics and modal teams attend as standard. The following government departments are kept in copy of correspondence and required to attend specific meetings as the need arises:
- Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero (DESNZ)
- Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
- Department for Education (DfE)
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
- Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
- His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT)
- Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
- devolved administrations
- DfT agencies such as National Highways and Network Rail
Other
At the request of the membership or the chair, the council may invite others to attend its meetings and contribute to its work on a case-by-case basis, including from academia, trade unions, other government departments (including local government representation) or other relevant businesses and organisations.
Meeting and papers
Meetings will take place 3 to 4 times a year for 90 minutes. Frequency and duration may be varied at the discretion of the minister or attendees.
Working groups to undertake more detailed work on specific subjects have been set up as subgroups whose outputs are reported to the council. The subgroups include:
- Freight Energy Forum
- People and Skills group
- Freight Innovation Cluster
Other working groups of the council will be set up as the need arises.
A secretariat function is provided by the DfT logistics and supply chains policy team, responsible for:
- scheduling meetings
- agreeing the agenda and circulating papers at least 5 working days in advance
- minuting meetings (which will be considered draft until agreed at the next meeting)
- maintaining a log of agreed actions
Information and papers are requested from members as and when required.
Approval, review and assurance of terms of reference
These terms of reference are subject to approval by members of the council. Terms of reference and membership will be reviewed on an annual basis.