Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of grid capacity in relation to electric vehicle charging; and what plans he has to increase grid capacity to accommodate the electric vehicle charging infrastructure needed ahead of Government plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Electricity network operators at both the distribution and transmission levels are responsible for assessing the need for new investment to support electric vehicle charging as part of their business plans, which are then approved by Ofgem, the independent regulator. My officials regularly meet with network operators across Great Britain to discuss the impacts of the electric vehicle transition, including how the increasing demand will be managed whilst minimising the impact on businesses, workers and consumers.
‘Smart’ charging can help reduce constraints on the network by allowing electricity demand to be shifted throughout the day. In 2019 the Government consulted on mandating that all private charge points sold or installed in the UK must be smart enabled. We intend to lay the relevant legislation this year.
The UK electricity market is already set up to bring forward investment in generation to meet demand. For example, the Contracts for Difference scheme supports significant investment in low carbon generation. The Government is also investing more than £1.3bn to support new EV charging infrastructure, including £950m on future proofing electricity network capacity along the Strategic Road Network. The necessary investment in infrastructure and the adoption of smart charging will ensure that the electricity network is able to support the mass charging of electric vehicles.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to support private sector investment into electric vehicle charging infrastructure in advance of the proposed ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars in 2030.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government is not proposing to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans, merely to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, this would not affect the second hand market in these vehicles. The Ten Point Plan confirmed £1.3 billion in funding to support the rapid expansion of the charging network in the 2020s, which includes £950 million in future proofing grid capacity along the Strategic Road Network. One of the aims of this funding is to support the growing private sector investment and expanding market opportunities in electric vehicle infrastructure. As set out in the National Infrastructure Strategy, we will produce an electric vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Strategy in 2021 to facilitate this further. We will be engaging with local authorities and stakeholders across the EV and energy sector to identify opportunities to harness private sector investment to deliver comprehensive UK EV charging infrastructure arrangements. This will ensure chargepoint infrastructure is rolled-out efficiently across all regions to deliver on the government’s levelling up agenda.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the financial incentives that will be required to support large fleet owners with the (a) cost of electric vehicle charging units and (b) infrastructure upgrades which will be needed to install rapid electric vehicle chargers.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Government recognises the scope for fleets to be at the vanguard of the transition to zero emission driving, including the recently announced 2030 phase out of new petrol and diesel cars and vans and the phasing out of the sale of new diesel heavy goods vehicles, which we will be consulting on. We will continue to work with fleet operators towards this. Fleet operators are able to take advantage of a range of grant funding schemes for cars and vans which are provided through the £1.5 billion the Government committed to support the early market.
To continue to accelerate the transition we have now pledged a further £2.8 billion package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles. This includes £1.3 billion to accelerate the roll out of charging infrastructure over the next four years, targeting £950m support on rapid chargepoints on motorways and major roads to around long journeys, and £365m for installing more on-street chargepoints near homes and workplaces to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car. We will consider what additional support might be appropriate to support large fleet operators and publish a clear delivery plan in 2021.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to extend the 100 per cent first year allowance on the purchase of electric vehicles to include the rental sector in order to facilitate the transition from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The existing 100 per cent first year allowances, which are available for the purchase of electric vehicles in respect of business cars and zero emission goods vehicles, are being extended to 2025 in order to continue to incentivise the transition to zero CO2 emission vehicles. First year allowances are not available for equipment purchased for leasing; there are no plans to introduce this for zero emission goods vehicles or to reintroduce it for low emission cars, as such assets could be leased overseas. This ensures that the environmental benefits of such incentives remain within the UK to assist the Government in achieving its wider commitment to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a new annual investment allowance for electric vehicle infrastructure which would allow 100 per cent of investment costs for all electric vehicle infrastructure to be offset against corporation tax.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
A specific capital allowance is currently available to businesses investing in new equipment for electric vehicle charging points. This can provide a tax deduction of 100 per cent of the investment for the tax period in which it is incurred. It is available for qualifying expenditure for businesses chargeable to UK corporation tax until 31 March 2023, and those chargeable to income tax until 5 April 2023.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to announce Additional High Needs funding to March 2024; and whether he plans that funding will be based on an assessment of local need rather than historical spend.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As a part of our major investment in education, the department has announced significant increases to high needs funding. This year, we have already provided an £780 million increase into high needs, which will be followed up by an additional £730 million in the 2021-22 financial year. This means that the high needs budgets will have grown by over £1.5 billion, nearly 25%, in just 2 years.
High needs funding for the 2022-23 financial year will be drawn from the overall core schools budget. As announced last year, the core school budget for the 2022-23 financial year will total £52.2 billion, which is a year-on-year increase of £4.8 billion. We will announce the high needs budget for 2022-23 in due course. Funding for the 2023-24 financial year will be determined in the next Spending Review.
This additional high needs funding will be allocated via the high needs national funding formula. This formula was introduced in the 2018-19 financial year after extensive consultation and was a significant step forward in making the allocation of funding fairer. The formula is based on the population of 2 to 18-year olds in a local authority area, and includes a number of factors which together are intended to reflect the level of need in the area.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans in the forthcoming spending review to announce Additional High Needs funding to March 2024, with that funding allocated to councils based on an assessment of local need rather than historical spend.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The upcoming Spending Review is a one-year exercise that will set departmental resource and capital budgets for 2021-22.
My RHF the Chancellor will set out the government’s spending plans that will focus on tackling Covid-19.
The government is committed to the multi-year resource settlement for schools that was announced at Spending Round 2019. This has provided for a £780 million boost to high needs funding this year, and an additional £730 million next year, which will bring the total high needs budget to over £8 billion in 2021-22.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to amend the VAT liability on garages let to non-council tenants in order to remove the discrepancy between council and non-council tenants in respect of garage rental charges.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Under the current VAT rules, the supply of a garage or parking is exempt from VAT if supplied at the outset at the same time as the residential accommodation. This VAT treatment is consistent for both council and non-council tenants.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to reduce VAT on health and leisure sector memberships to promote healthy living.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Services linked with sport or physical education provided by certain bodies are exempt from VAT provided they are not run for profit. The services of profit making bodies are subject to the standard rate of VAT in line with the rules for normal business activity.
Extending the current exemption would come at a cost to the Exchequer. The Government has no plans to change the current VAT treatment of health and leisure memberships.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to extend the business rates holiday to the 2021-22 financial year for sectors affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government will continue to look at how to adjust its support in a way that ensures people can get back to work, protecting both the UK economy and the livelihoods of people across the country. The Government considers all reliefs in the round, against the broader fiscal and economic impacts of COVID-19, as part of the Business Rates Review.