Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 43 of his Department's report entitled Bus back better: national bus strategy for England, published on 15 March 2021, what recent progress his Department has made on the rollout of a zero-emission bus fleet.

Since February 2020, an estimated 4,200 zero-emission buses (ZEBs) have been funded across the UK, this includes 1,300 ZEBs supported by the £280m ZEBRA scheme. On 8 September 2023, we announced that the ZEBRA 2 scheme would provide up to a further £129m of funding for local transport authorities in England (outside of London) to support the introduction of hundreds more ZEBs and associated infrastructure.

The National Bus Strategy also contained a commitment to set a legal end date for the sale of new diesel buses and set an expectation for when the entire bus fleet will be zero-emission. In spring 2022, the Department ran a consultation to help determine the exact date for ending the sale of new non-ZEBs. Calls for evidence about the decarbonisation of coaches and minibuses were also launched. We will make an announcement on the end of sales date in due course.

In April 2022, the Government increased the rate at which the Bus Service Operators Grant can be claimed for ZEBs to 22p per km, further incentivising the take up of ZEBs.