Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities to ensure the roll-out of zero-emissions vehicles and infrastructure is coordinated across the UK, and aligns with the Government’s net-zero targets.

Local authorities have a crucial role to play in tackling air and climate emissions, and supporting the uptake of zero emission vehicles (EV). UK government has a suite of activities to work closer than ever with local authorities, to encourage leadership and widespread regional and local action in this space. This includes ministers writing to and engaging authority council leaders and chief executives, and officials from the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) working closely with the many tiers and structures of government across the UK.

This engagement has also fed into the development and delivery of our grant schemes for local authorities, including the existing On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) that supports public chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking; and, the upcoming £90m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund.

Government has also been working closely with local authorities on the development of an EV Infrastructure Strategy. This will be published later this year, and will set out the vision and action plan for charging infrastructure rollout needed to achieve the 2030/35 phase out successfully. This will set expected roles for different stakeholders and how government will intervene to address the gaps between the current market status and our vision. Government also continues to fund the Energy Saving Trust to provide an impartial advisory service which helps local authorities in England to develop local policies and strategies to support charging infrastructure and zero emission vehicle uptake.