Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that levelling up funding, such as the Future High Street Fund, helps to ensure adequate provision of electric charging infrastructure for (a) cars and (b) mobility scooters in towns.

This department is committed to the net zero strategy that was published in 2021. The ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution includes the commitment of accelerating a shift to zero emission vehicles. Our levelling up funds support this commitment.

As part of our £3.6 billion Towns Fund, we have encouraged towns to develop interventions to increase resilience and prosperity and contribute to the United Kingdom's overarching goal to be zero carbon by 2050. This includes funding electric charging infrastructure like the £400,000 investment into providing 20 additional charging spaces in Newcastle under Lyme.

In addition, through our £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund we are investing in transport projects to reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality, cut congestion, support economic growth, and improve the safety, security and overall experience of transport users. Bids for the second round of funding closed on 2 August 2022 and we welcome the wide range of bids we have received which will help improve and support communities across the United Kingdom. These are currently being assessed and we expect an announcement on successful bids later this year.