Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the ability to trial innovative logistics vehicles in the UK of the UK’s current planning and regulatory systems.

The Government has facilitated and will continue to facilitate the trial of innovation in logistics, including innovative logistics vehicles.

The Zero Emission Road Freight Demonstrator (ZERFD) programme will demonstrate hundreds of zero emission HGVs across multiple technologies, alongside their associated refuelling and recharging infrastructure, on UK roads over the coming years. It will identify how each technology can best be used to decarbonise the heaviest HGVs.

The Government conducted an extensive trial of longer semi-trailer HGVs. This trial demonstrated that these vehicles, which are often built in the UK, can be used safely and provide significant benefits in improving efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Road Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) (General) (Amendment) Order 2023 has been laid to enter into force on 31^st May 2023 to enable these vehicles to be used outside the trial, their use having been proven in the trial.

On a smaller scale the Government has recently awarded nine SMEs Freight Innovation Fund grants to trial innovative freight solutions to support decarbonisation. The successful SMEs have partnered with larger businesses to run trials at scale and include drone delivery of mail in the Orkneys and e-cargo bikes in London. The £7m Freight Innovation Fund will run for three years, concluding in 2025. The Government will evaluate the effectiveness of the fund before taking any decisions on any successor programme.

Trials of innovative logistics vehicles have continued in the UK irrespective of any delay to legislation.