Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has to expand EV charging infrastructure in underserved regions.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to accelerating the roll-out of affordable and accessible charging infrastructure so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to an electric vehicle (EV). As of 1 November 2025, Government and industry have supported the installation of 86,798 publicly available charging devices, up 22% on this time last year. In 2024, the number of publicly available charging devices in rural areas of England increased by 45%.
Government’s £381m Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund allocated capital and resource funding across England. Funding allocations were determined through an assessment of local authority need, including deprivation levels and rurality. The North East region was allocated over £25m LEVI funding to leverage significant private investment and expand the number of local public chargepoints across the region.
The £25 million EV Pavement Channel Grant is also available, which is intended to empower local authorities to adopt pavement channels as part of their local charging solutions. The North East was allocated over £1.6m to support the installation of pavement channels alongside public chargepoints.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of distribution of (a) rapid and (b) ultra-rapid EV charging points across rural constituencies.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring a spread of chargepoints across the country – in our cities, towns and rural areas. In October, the Department published the latest quarterly tables showing charging devices at all UK parliamentary constituencies including a table of 50kW+ or above devices, available at tables 7a and 7b here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6900f9b584b816d72cb9aab6/electric-vehicle-public-charging-infrastructure-statistics-october-2025.ods.
Between October 2024 and October 2025 the number of public charging devices located in rural areas of England increased by 26%.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential environmental benefits of expanding EV charging infrastructure in rural and remote communities.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The zero emission vehicle (ZEV) transition is crucial to the UK meeting its climate change obligations, as well as improving air quality and supporting growth.
Government and industry support means charging infrastructure will match rising demand, so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to a ZEV. As of 1 November, there are now more than 86,700 public charging devices across the UK, an increase of 22% year on year.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department occupies GPA and HMRC estate and therefore has not purchased any electric vehicle charging points at its sites or purchased any electric vehicles. Data for arms-length-bodies is not held centrally.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department occupies GPA and HMRC estate and therefore has not purchased any electric vehicle charging points at its sites or purchased any electric vehicles. Data for arms-length-bodies is not held centrally.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data her Department holds on the number of electric charging points in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The below table presents the number of public charging devices as of 1st October 2025 in Hexham constituency, Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, the North East, and England.
Area | Number of public charging devices, 1st October 2025 |
Hexham constituency | 237 |
Northumberland | 611 |
Newcastle upon Tyne | 277 |
North East | 2,698 |
England | 74,115 |
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to electric vehicle charging facilities in the North East.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to accelerating the roll-out of affordable and accessible charging infrastructure so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to an electric vehicle (EV). Public chargepoint numbers are increasing and, as of 1 November 2025, Government and industry have supported the installation of 86,798 publicly available charging devices, up 22% on this time last year.
The North East region was allocated over £25m through the Government’s Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund to leverage significant private investment and increase the number of local public chargepoints across the region.
The £25 million EV Pavement Channel Grant is also available, which is intended to empower local authorities to adopt pavement channels as part of their local charging solutions. The North East was allocated over £1.6m to support the installation of pavement channels alongside public chargepoints.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 85702 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, what information his Department holds on whether the 127 additional electric vehicle charging points will be (a) publicly available and (b) implemented during the four year period.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The On-Street Residential Charging Scheme funds publicly available chargepoints. Installation timescales will be agreed between the funded councils and their appointed chargepoint operator.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the statistics entitled Monthly total number of electric vehicle public charging devices available in the UK, published on 1 October 2025, if she will provide a breakdown by local transport authority.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Geographic breakdowns of the number of public electric vehicle charging devices in the UK are published in the tables for Electric vehicle public charging infrastructure statistics: October 2025.
Table 1a summarises the number of public charging devices by region and local authority.
Table 7a summarises the number of public charging devices by parliamentary constituency.
The Department does not hold this data summarised at local transport authority level.
The tables are included as a supplementary attachment to this response.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Engineering Recommendation G100: Technical Requirements for Customers’ Export and Import Limitation Schemes, published in July 2016, what steps she is taking to encourage District Network Operators to accept new EV charging technologies.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to enabling innovative electric vehicle (EV) charging technologies, including smart charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G), to reduce energy bills and support the decarbonisation of our energy system.
Engineering Recommendation G100 is the responsibility of the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs). It is regularly updated to facilitate connections, while ensuring they do not adversely impact on customers or the local electricity network.
As set out in the Clean Flexibility Roadmap published in July 2025, Ofgem and DESNZ are considering with industry how to improve grid connection processes and technical interoperability for V2G to ensure they are fit for purpose. This includes working with DNOs in relation to the grid codes which set out the technical requirements for connecting V2G systems.
More widely, Ofgem is working to improve the connections experience for all customers in its end to end review of connections.