Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to allocate further funding for the repair of potholes.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department for Transport works with local highway authorities and with National Highways to assess road surface condition across England annually. Local highway authorities undertake automated road condition surveys on their classified road networks, and their surveys identify road defects and provide an overall score of road condition. The latest data was published on gov.uk on 23 November.
As part of the Government’s Network North plan, local highway authorities across England are set to benefit from the biggest ever increase in funding for local highway networks. The details of this £8.3 billion funding increase were set out in the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 20 November, and in his letter to Parliamentary colleagues.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the delay in the phase out of the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 to 2035 on (a) consumer uptake of electric vehicles and (b) inward investment into the electric vehicle industry.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) mandate will support the delivery of the 2035 phase out dates and remains one of the most ambitious regulatory frameworks in the world. It will secure adequate supply of ZEVs to support continued consumer uptake of these vehicles.
The ZEV mandate also provides long term policy certainty to industry, generating inward investment in the automotive and chargepoint sectors. This is demonstrated in the scale of investment from the private sector. Over the last few years there has been over £6 billion private investment in the electric vehicle industry, including from Tata, BMW, Stellantis and Nissan. In addition the UK chargepoint industry has committed £6 billion in the development and operation of chargepoints before 2030.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the delay in implementing the Rapid Charging Fund on (a) demand for electric vehicles and (b) inward investment into the electric vehicle industry.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The Rapid Charging Fund (RCF) is a complex long-term project, requiring new approaches to enable substantial investments from government and industry to future-proof key locations. Testing with stakeholders, prior to opening the fund, has benefitted the design and delivery arrangements.
The RCF will help ensure that the private sector can continue to expand the charging network and future-proof electricity network capacity 10 years ahead to a minimum of 2035, with a stretch target of 2050.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to extend the maximum axle weights and gross vehicle weights derogation given to two and three axle electric HGVs to four and six axle electric HGVs.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Road Vehicles (Authorised Weight) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 increased maximum gross vehicle weight limits for some zero emission four or six axle HGV combinations. Increases for other rigid four or six axle HGVs, or amendments to axle weight limits will result in increased road wear and may also damage infrastructure, and are not currently being pursued. However, bids have been invited by the Department for further research.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the trend in the level of average fuel prices in the period between 25 October 2023 and 22 November 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Department publishes average fuel prices for the UK on a weekly basis. The average road fuel prices on 20 November in the UK were 150.5 pence per litre for petrol and 158.4 pence per litre for diesel. Both have decreased week-on-week, by -0.6 percent and –0.7 percent respectively) over the past month.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the difference between fuel prices (a) on and (b) not on motorways.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to him on 18 September to Question UIN 199076.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the average price for fuel was at (a) motorway stations and (b) other petrol and diesel stations in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Department publishes average fuel prices for the UK weekly, but the data is not collected at the granularity to determine prices for motorways compared to all other stations.
The Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) road fuel market study found drivers without access to fuel cards are paying more at motorway service stations than elsewhere. This is due to limited competitive pressures and limited opportunities for customers to observe prices and shop around. Differences in ‘fixed’ and ‘variable’ costs, such as rent, staff wages and fuel volume sold also cause price variations.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has had recent discussions with fuel retailers on the level of fuel prices on motorways.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to him on 18 September to Question UIN 199075.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to respond to the email correspondence of 27 September 2023 from the hon. Member for Sefton Central.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Markham) replied to the hon. Member on 24 November 2023.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to incentivise the uptake of four and six-axle electric HGVs.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The Department has already taken steps to support uptake of electric HGVs by increasing their maximum gross weight limit to reduce any payload loss compared to a diesel equivalent. The Road Vehicles (Authorised Weight) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 came into force in July 2023, and there is an associated published impact assessment.
The Department is also in the procurement process for a research project on weights and dimensions of zero emission HGVs. The project will provide an evidence base to inform policy discussions regarding weights and dimensions within the UK. The deadline for bids was on Sunday 19 November.
Since the plug-in van grant was launched in 2012, it has supported over 40,000 electric vans and HGVs across the UK. There are now almost 60 models of electric vans and trucks eligible for grants. These include a wide variety of specifications, such as differing wheelhouses and roof heights, and benefit from lower running costs than internal combustion engine vans.
Finally, to further increase the evidence base on performance of the largest zero emission HGVs, the Department’s £200m zero emission HGV and infrastructure programme will demonstrate zero emission HGVs and their associated charging and fuelling infrastructure at scale on UK roads. The four winning projects will roll out up to 370 zero emission HGVs, around 50 battery electric charging sites and up to 7 hydrogen refuelling stations.