Buses: Electric Vehicles

(asked on 20th April 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans are there to ensure, under the ten-year zero emission bus order pipeline, that UK based manufacturers are best placed to produce the new vehicles.


Answered by
Simon Lightwood Portrait
Simon Lightwood
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 23rd April 2026

The Government has supported the UK bus manufacturing industry through the UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panel, which ran from March 2025 to March 2026.

Long-term funding for local transport authorities, including through the £15.6 billion Transport for City Regions funding, will enable LTAs to purchase zero emission buses (ZEBs) for their areas and support wider investment.

The zero emission bus order pipeline was published in March 2026 and provides greater planning certainty to the sector as they develop future decarbonisation strategies.

At the final meeting of the Expert Panel, Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) agreed to a minimum 10% social value weighting in future bus procurements. This will help to enable UK-based manufacturers to plan and invest with confidence, taking full advantage of the opportunities ahead.

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