Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to help local authorities improve electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The Government’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities to provide public chargepoints for their residents without access to off-street parking. This year, £20 million is available under the scheme to ensure more local authorities and residents can benefit. We also offer extensive support and guidance for local authorities including through the Energy Saving Trust (EST), which runs the Local Government Support Programme – an impartial advisory service which helps local authorities in England to develop local policies and strategies to support ZEV uptake. We will also work with EST on a series of webinars to support the sharing of best practice and expertise, and ensure local authorities are sighted of the national policy developments and direction in this space. We believe that local authorities have a crucial role to play in enabling the transition to zero emission driving and we are working closer than ever with them to encourage uptake of central Government funding. In early 2022, in collaboration with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), we will publish an EV infrastructure guide for local authorities to assist with the transition to ZEVs. More widely, later this year, we will publish an electric vehicle infrastructure strategy, setting out our vision for infrastructure rollout, and roles for the public and private sectors in achieving it.