Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of people who will own an electric vehicle in each year between 2024 and 2030.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport (The Department) doesn’t hold an estimate of the number of people who will own an electric vehicle in each year between 2024 and 2030. The Department does hold an estimate of the number of Battery Electric cars and vans (BEVs) that will be in the vehicle fleet in each year. This has been provided as a proxy for the number of people who will own one. These projections were developed in late 2023 / early 2024.
There is inherent uncertainty in these estimates. These figures assume ‘firm and funded’ policies only, covering existing legislation, confirmed subsidy schemes and current taxation policy. The Government may bring forward other measures that could change this projection.
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | |
BEV | Cars and vans stock | 1,720,171 | 2,444,868 | 3,325,275 | 4,379,415 | 5,845,172 | 7,732,148 | 10,049,076 |
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland on the graduated driving licence pilot scheme.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No discussions have taken place with the Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland on the graduated driving licence pilot scheme.
Whilst we are not considering Graduated Driving Licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads, and we are considering other measures to tackle this problem and protect young drivers.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help support small regional airports to develop new routes in addition to the use of public service obligations.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Public Service Obligation (PSO) Regulations enable protection of existing domestic routes that are in danger of being lost. DfT currently joint-funds three PSO routes into London from Newquay, Dundee and Derry/Londonderry.
Airports invest in their infrastructure to attract passengers and airlines, while airlines deliver services to their customers by responding to demand for routes. My officials are actively engaging with regional airports to understand their route networks and how Government can support their future ambitions.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate she had made of when she will receive the results of the evaluation of future transport zones commissioned by her Department from the National Centre for Social Research.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Future Transport Zones (FTZ) programme is scheduled to conclude by the end of 2025. Monitoring and evaluation work has been ongoing alongside the programme since it began in 2020. We have recently published the first two waves of evaluation at a national level, delivered by the National Centre for Social Research on behalf of the Department for Transport, with a third wave to follow in 2025. The individual FTZ areas are also undertaking their own local evaluations.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to publish revised national road traffic projections before the Summer recess.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The National Road Traffic Projections were last published in December 2022. The Department has no plans to publish updated projections before the Summer recess. The Department regularly reviews evidence and data on the drivers of travel demand and will publish an update in due course.
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 29 January 2024 to Question 11269 on Electric Scooters: Hire Services, whether he plans to announce a decision on extending e-scooter rental trials before the Summer recess.
Answered by Anthony Browne
E-scooter trials have been extended to 31 May 2026. Extending the trials beyond May 2024 will enable us to build on current learning across areas including usage, safety, and environmental impacts, and to explore changing travel patterns since the coronavirus pandemic and as e-scooters become more embedded in public life.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that most zero-emission buses for use in the UK are built in the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman
UK bus manufacturing is an area of strength for the UK, with 80% of buses operating in urban areas produced in the UK.
As part of the application process for the ZEBRA programmes, bidders were asked to highlight any community benefits from their proposals. This included local economic development in the area, the creation and/or retention of jobs and apprenticeships related to the maintenance of zero emission vehicles, including batteries and fuel cells, and supporting infrastructure.
The UK Government has no role in the procurement of buses, this is the responsibility of the LTA and the bus operator. During the procurement process for ZEBs, LTAs and bus operators tend to consider criteria such as value for money and route suitability, rather than geographical origins. Their priority is to procure the right vehicle, for the right location, based on quality and value for money.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will have discussions with the Mayor of London on the (a) reasons for the duration of time during which an escalator at Paddington Station has been out of service and (b) impact of that on elderly and disabled visitors to that station.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Facilities at Paddington London Underground station are the responsibility of Transport for London (TfL). DfT Ministers and officials meet regularly with TfL on a range of issues.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects to receive the results of the evaluation of Future Transport Zones commissioned by his Department from the National Centre for Social Research.
Answered by Anthony Browne
The Department manages a programme-level evaluation of the Future Transport Zones on how the four Zones designed, procured and implemented their programmes, currently running from 2021-25. The externally commissioned evaluation of Future Transport Zones is still ongoing.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Operation Zero steering board meetings were there in 2023; and how long each meeting lasted.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In 2023, the Operation Zero Steering Board met three times, with each meeting lasting two hours.