Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of local councils in delivering electric vehicle charging infrastructure to meet the Government’s 2030 target to end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars in the UK.

Local councils have an important role to play in the transition to zero emission driving and we are working with them to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030. The Government’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities to provide charging infrastructure for those without private parking. More than 105 local authorities have already taken advantage of the scheme, funding more than 3,800 chargepoints. We encourage local authorities to apply for funding to provide chargers for their residents.

We provided £40 million of funding via our Go Ultra Low city scheme to 8 cities across the UK, to support uptake of ultra low emission vehicles in those cities. Over 3,500 chargepoints were installed as part of this scheme. Bristol, London, Milton Keynes and Nottingham have been delivering ambitious plans to become global exemplars of ultra low emission vehicle uptake.  The scheme also provided £5 million of development funding for specific initiatives in Dundee, Oxford, York and the North East region. The Government has committed £90 million at Spending Review to fund local electric vehicle charging infrastructure, in particular to support the roll out of larger, on-street charging schemes and rapid hubs in England.

Later this year, the Government will publish an electric vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, which will explore the roles and responsibilities for central government and wider stakeholders involved in the deployment of charging infrastructure. As part of this, we will be engaging with local authorities, charge point operators and other stakeholders to ensure that future charging infrastructure is practical, accessible and deliverable.