The national governance meeting, Central London, May got the news that Heathrow, who asks suppliers to be FORS-accredited, is likely to ask retailers at Heathrow to request FORS accreditation for their supply chains.

In the Midlands, Northamptonshire Council is moving its requirement to request Gold accreditation for suppliers within the next year.

With the launch of version five of the standard, a new model looks likely to review van and powered two-wheelers. Express final mile drivers have long posed a problem in the mixed employment of national courier fleets. The new model will focus on cost and targeting smaller operators and even owner drivers.

Numbers reported for the May meeting, just over a thousand at silver and just under five thousand in total with almost a hundred audits a week nationally.

FORS regional meetings going well, next one's June 4^th Manchester, June 6^th London.

Word of the new version five -  it's more closely aligned to the community partnership, CLOCS, LoCITY and recent security and terrorism incidents.

The meeting had consensus on unification of audit dates for the different grades of bronze, silver and gold. FORS governance issues closed with a report that the new trailblazer apprenticeship for Express manager at degree level had submitted to DfE for end point assessment with FORS practitioner qualification embedded in the degree alongside Manager CPC as requested by employers across the sector.

Institute of Couriers executive review for version five of the FORS standard.

    -Review the focus of truck in the FORS standard, tachograph and trailer in context of van fleets.
   - Further review issues appropriate to two-wheelers.
    -Is it time to consider vehicle-related standards outside the existing model, van and two-wheeler options?
   - In V5 the first steps emerge in V5.1 5.2 and 5.3, should there be V5.4 for two-wheelers?
    -More clarification to define the term small fleet and detail to single vehicle operators.
    -Detail and explain fleet in the context of smaller operators.
    -Are the grades of silver and gold really accessible to small operators?
    -Focus of the challenge of multi-layer policies on the small and singular operators with note of mixed employment platforms at that size.
    -Provided a summary of the compulsory training and time frames.
    -Detail the breadth of policies in the opening standard at unit M1.
    -Suggest a summary for best practice with a detailed list of polices at M1.
    -Environmental unit S5, consider exemptions for such as exiting zero emission driver or drivers.
    -Consider revisions for two-wheelers in context of cycle awareness.