Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) ministers, (b) special advisors and (c) officials in her Department have had with (i) Distribution Network Operators and (ii) National Grid on the power capacity of grid infrastructure to support charging points for electric vehicles.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In line with our ambitions for a zero emission car, van, and HGV fleet, the Government is working with industry to make all charging easy, fast and reliable.
The Department for Transport regularly engages with Distribution Network Operators, and with National Grid on work related to accelerating the delivery of chargepoint infrastructure. This includes discussions on power capacity and grid infrastructure required to meet growing demand for EV charging.
In March, I met with Distribution Network Operators, along with other industry groups, such as motorway service area operators and chargepoint operators, to understand industry’s perspective on improving charging on the Strategic Road Network (England’s motorways and major A roads).
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of her policies on electric vehicle charging companies’ (a) pricing and (b) subscription models.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is committed to ensuring public charging is affordable for all. Under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023, chargepoint operators are required to clearly provide the price of charging at public chargepoints in pence per kilowatt hour. While this does not cap the cost of charging or require chargepoint operators to use a specific pricing model, it does ensure consistency in the way prices are displayed, making it easy for drivers to compare public chargepoints and choose the best rate.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles were purchased by National Highways by car manufacturer in each year since 2014.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The number of vehicles purchased, per year since 2014 and by car manufacturer, by National Highways is on the attached table.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles in the National Highways fleet are aged (a) up to one year, (b) between one and two years, (c) between three and five years and (d) older than five years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The National Highways fleet consists of:
147 vehicles aged up to one year;
195 vehicles aged between one and two years;
708 vehicles aged between three and five years; and
108 vehicles older than five years.
National Highways continues to manage its fleet efficiently to ensure operational effectiveness and value for money.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 27405 on Highways England: Carbon Emissions, what the carbon emissions were by (a) source and (b) activity in each year since 2014.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Below is a breakdown of National Highways’ (NH) Carbon Emissions, covering the period 2021/22 to 2023/24.
Carbon emissions prior to this were not reported to this level and are not available.
Year | Breakdown by activity/source | ||||||||||||
2021-22 |
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2022-23 |
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2023-24 |
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Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of what the level of carbon emissions from National Highways will be in each year between 2025 and 2040.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways set-out its ambitions for putting roads at the heart of Britain’s net zero future within its ‘Net zero highways: our 2030 / 2040 / 2050 plan’ published in 2021. This includes details on emissions reductions goals and the steps that National Highways will take within the period 2025 to 2040. Additionally, the ‘Strategic road network initial report: 2025-2030’, published in 2023, proposes how National Highways in the next five years will specifically support the third road investment strategy (RIS3) development objective of improved environmental outcomes, set out in the ‘Planning Ahead for the Strategic Road Network’ document. The contribution of RIS3 to National Highways’ carbon emissions will be considered as part of the underpinning analysis when RIS3 is set later in 2025.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value was of vehicles (a) purchased and (b) sold by National Highways in each year since 2014.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The value of vehicles purchased and sold by National Highways since 2014 is broken down as follows:
Year | Total Vehicle Spend | Total Revenue from Vehicle Sales |
2014 | £34,640.30 | 0 |
2015 | £773,767.30 | 0 |
2016 | £2,145,237.48 | 0 |
2017 | £48,811.50 | 0 |
2018 | £11,556,927.88 | 0 |
2019 | £17,113,959.89 | 0 |
2020 | £17,576,940.21 | £150,802.73 |
2021 | £25,525,278.82 | £823,805.28 |
2022 | £29,611,298.66 | £3,303,299.37 |
2023 | £12,515,348.93 | £2,195,094.38 |
2024 | £11,352,979.81 | £1,603,758.81 |
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) petrol, (b) diesel, (c) hydrogen, (d) hybrid, (e) plug-in hybrid and (f) fully electric vehicles were purchased by National Highways in each year since 2014.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The number of vehicles purchased by National Highways since 2014, broken down by engine type, is as follows:
| No. Vehicles Purchased by Engine Type | |||||
Year | Petrol | Diesel | Hydrogen | Hybrid | Plug-In Hybrid | Fully Electric |
2014 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2015 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2016 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2017 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2018 | 0 | 195 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2019 | 0 | 228 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
2020 | 0 | 104 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
2021 | 0 | 120 | 0 | 0 | 128 | 1 |
2022 | 0 | 131 | 0 | 0 | 175 | 19 |
2023 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 195 | 18 |
2024 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 74 |
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 26900 on Highways England: Vehicles, whether her Department plans to sell National Highway’s (a) diesel and (b) plug-in hybrid vehicles before 2027; and when those vehicles were purchased.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Operational decisions on its vehicle fleet are made by National Highways; the fleet replacement strategy is to retain vehicles for an operational period of around 3 to 4 years, subject to factors such as mileage, general condition, and suitability for ongoing operational use. National Highways contracts with vehicle disposal agents that use auction services to repurpose and sell its vehicles at the end of their operational life.
The table below details the current number of diesel and plug-in hybrid vehicles which were added to National Highways’ fleet (by year, since 2018) to align with the governments’ Road to Zero Strategy for vehicle replacements.
On fleet date | Number of Vehicles | Fuel Type |
2018 | 1 | Diesel |
0 | PHEV | |
2019 | 5 | Diesel |
2 | PHEV | |
2020 | 5 | Diesel |
15 | PHEV | |
2021 | 0 | Diesel |
128 | PHEV | |
2022 | 0 | Diesel |
174 | PHEV | |
2023 | 0 | Diesel |
195 | PHEV | |
2024 | 0 | Diesel |
75 | PHEV |
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will list all training that has been provided to traffic officers on managing electric vehicles in incident recovery situations in each year between 2014 and 2024.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways has evolved its training programme for Traffic Officers on Electric Vehicles (EVs) as their use on the network has emerged and grown. Our training provision is aligned to the traffic officer work instructions in operation at that time, which have evolved as the number of EVs on our roads has increased.
Booster Pack and Skids training was provided for all Traffic Officers from December 2020 to April 2021. This was consolidated into new starter training from May 2021. Booster Pack training is the familiarisation of the booster pack that Traffic Officer vehicles carry. This training covers component parts of the booster pack and how to apply to release electronic handbrakes in line with manufacturer guidelines. Skids training is delivered to enable Traffic Officers to put skids underneath tyres that are unable to turn when electronic handbrakes cannot be released, enabling clearance of the carriageway. Whilst neither are exclusively EV training, they are methods that can be used with EVs.
Both training packages were subsequently consolidated into New Starter training for Traffic Officers as part of the continuous improvement of foundation training. EV eLearning was also rolled out to all Traffic Officers from January 2021 until November 2023, across a range of subjects, including:
Overview of EV and Hybrids
Evaluate the Positives and Negatives of EV and Hybrids
Identify Types of EV/Hybrids at scene of incident or breakdowns
Potential hazards involved when dealing with EV/Hybrids
EV and Hybrid component parts
H&S (HSE Guidance)
The EV and Hybrid Awareness eLearning package covers identification of component parts of EVs, such as High Voltage batteries and their location. The EV training delivered at New Starter Course offers a higher level of awareness, including when EVs are involved in Road Traffic Collisions and sustain a higher degree of damage.
Carriageway clearance, which includes EV training, is delivered to all new National Highways Traffic Officers as part of their Foundation training, this has been in place since 2018.