Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide funding to increase the number of electric vehicle charging points in rural areas.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure happens across all areas of the country.

More than 189 different local authorities across the UK, including those in rural areas, have been awarded over £55 million funding through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme which will see more than 14,000 chargepoints installed across the UK.

From 1 April 2022, the Government expanded the Workplace Charging Scheme to support small accommodation businesses and charities to install chargepoints for their guests and visitors. This should help provision more chargepoints in rural areas, for example it should support places like village halls to provide chargepoints for their communities.

In England, the Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund will address regional charging inequality and ensure no part of the country is left behind. The Government has developed a data-led allocation model to award the funding, which considers factors such as the level of rurality and the number of vehicles without off-street parking within the local authority.

The majority of funding programmes for charging infrastructure are available on a UK wide basis. Where public funding initiatives are planned for England only, corresponding additions are usually allocated to the devolved administrations through Barnett consequentials. It is then for those nations to decide how that funding should be spent.