Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with UK bus (a) manufacturers and (b) operators on the February 2020 Government announcement on purchasing at least 4,000 zero emission buses.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Department is in regular dialogue with bus operators and manufacturers. The Minister responsible for Buses, Baroness Vere, recently chaired a roundtable which was attended by the Chief Executives of the largest UK bus manufacturers, bus trade associations and operators, and this topic was on the agenda.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking ensure that funding from his Department for the ultra-low emissions bus scheme is released to transport operators by September 2020 to protect jobs in that sector.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (ULEBS) awarded £48 million across 19 local authorities and bus operators, and will support 263 zero emission buses and infrastructure. To release the funding to operators, government must be presented with evidence of purchase of the vehicles.
More recently the Government has announced £5 billion of new funding to overhaul bus and cycling links across England outside of London, which includes funding for at least 4,000 new zero-emission buses.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many electric vehicles were registered in Falkirk constituency in the most recent period for which records are available.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
At the end of 2019, there were 107 battery electric vehicles licensed to an address in the Falkirk constituency, which comprised of 104 cars and 3 other vehicles.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the environment of potential changes in electric car sales after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
This Government has a number of initiatives in place to encourage electric vehicle ownership and has committed to invest more than £600m to 2020 to make the UK a leader not only in their use, but in their development and manufacture. The UK’s network of rapid charge points is the largest in Europe and has helped the UK become the largest market for electric vehicle sales in the EU.We have an established programme of policies in place to support the UK’s growing market for electric vehicles. In 2016 the UK had the highest sales of ultra low emission vehicles in the EU.
The UK's exit from the EU will not reduce our ambition to be at the global forefront of the transition to electric vehicles and we remain committed to meeting our national and international climate change targets.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to tackle potential changes in electric car sales after the UK has left the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
This Government has a number of initiatives in place to encourage electric vehicle ownership and has committed to invest more than £600m to 2020 to make the UK a leader in both their use and their development and manufacture. The UK’s network of rapid chargepoints is the largest in Europe and has helped the UK become the largest market for electric vehicle sales in the EU. The UK’s exit from the EU will not reduce the Government’s ambition to be at the global forefront of the global transition to electric vehicles, and we remain committed to meeting our national and international climate change targets.