Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that departmental approval processes do not delay private investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure on the Strategic Road Network.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A reliable, accessible public charging network is essential to support electric vehicle drivers on long journeys. There are now over 1,740 rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (July 2026, industry data) at the 116 motorway service areas in England, having trebled over three years (July 2023 – July 2026, industry data).
Government is working with industry to target support to continue to strengthen charging for long journeys. The Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme will strengthen electrical capacity to improve charging at some motorway service areas, where high connection costs are a barrier. Alongside this, National Highways is working to support minimum levels of provision at key sites.
At Norton Canes, officials are working closely with relevant parties to progress the approvals required for improved electric vehicle charging while ensuring all contractual, legal and technical requirements are met.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to expedite outstanding approvals for electric vehicle charging infrastructure at Norton Canes motorway service area.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A reliable, accessible public charging network is essential to support electric vehicle drivers on long journeys. There are now over 1,740 rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (July 2026, industry data) at the 116 motorway service areas in England, having trebled over three years (July 2023 – July 2026, industry data).
Government is working with industry to target support to continue to strengthen charging for long journeys. The Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme will strengthen electrical capacity to improve charging at some motorway service areas, where high connection costs are a barrier. Alongside this, National Highways is working to support minimum levels of provision at key sites.
At Norton Canes, officials are working closely with relevant parties to progress the approvals required for improved electric vehicle charging while ensuring all contractual, legal and technical requirements are met.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of electric vehicle charging provision on the M6 Toll Road.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A reliable, accessible public charging network is essential to support electric vehicle drivers on long journeys. There are now over 1,740 rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (July 2026, industry data) at the 116 motorway service areas in England, having trebled over three years (July 2023 – July 2026, industry data).
Government is working with industry to target support to continue to strengthen charging for long journeys. The Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme will strengthen electrical capacity to improve charging at some motorway service areas, where high connection costs are a barrier. Alongside this, National Highways is working to support minimum levels of provision at key sites.
At Norton Canes, officials are working closely with relevant parties to progress the approvals required for improved electric vehicle charging while ensuring all contractual, legal and technical requirements are met.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to coordinate with National Highways, local planning authorities and private operators to accelerate electric vehicle charging deployment at motorway service areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A reliable, accessible public charging network is essential to support electric vehicle drivers on long journeys. There are now over 1,740 rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (July 2026, industry data) at the 116 motorway service areas in England, having trebled over three years (July 2023 – July 2026, industry data).
Government is working with industry to target support to continue to strengthen charging for long journeys. The Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme will strengthen electrical capacity to improve charging at some motorway service areas, where high connection costs are a barrier. Alongside this, National Highways is working to support minimum levels of provision at key sites.
At Norton Canes, officials are working closely with relevant parties to progress the approvals required for improved electric vehicle charging while ensuring all contractual, legal and technical requirements are met.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of motorway service areas on the delivery of electric vehicle charging infrastructure targets.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A reliable, accessible public charging network is essential to support electric vehicle drivers on long journeys. There are now over 1,740 rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (July 2026, industry data) at the 116 motorway service areas in England, having trebled over three years (July 2023 – July 2026, industry data).
Government is working with industry to target support to continue to strengthen charging for long journeys. The Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme will strengthen electrical capacity to improve charging at some motorway service areas, where high connection costs are a barrier. Alongside this, National Highways is working to support minimum levels of provision at key sites.
At Norton Canes, officials are working closely with relevant parties to progress the approvals required for improved electric vehicle charging while ensuring all contractual, legal and technical requirements are met.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there are plans to make first aid training a mandatory component of the national curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All state funded schools are required to teach first aid as part of the health education set out in the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance. Independent schools are required to cover health education as part of their responsibility to provide personal, social, health and economic education.
The statutory RSHE guidance includes basic first aid for primary school children, for example dealing with common injuries, such as head injuries. Pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, for example how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the purpose of defibrillators and how to use them.
Schools have autonomy to work with external providers, including the British Heart Foundation, and to use teaching resources from Oak National Academy, to deliver specific first aid teaching, if they think it is topical or there is particular local relevance.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of NESO Future Energy Scenarios' ambition of achieving 30TWh of domestic renewable gas production by 2035.
Answered by Katie White - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is aware of a range of evidence showing that increasing biomethane deployment is a cost-effective route to delivering net zero, whilst also offering wider system benefits, such as waste management. This includes the Biomass Strategy 2023 estimate of 30-40TWh of biomethane production in 2050.
The Department is carefully considering this evidence to inform future support for the biomethane sector.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reports by the Green Gas Taskforce, the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association and others, that the most cost-effective route to net zero requires increases in the production of biomethane in the coming years.
Answered by Katie White - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is aware of a range of evidence showing that increasing biomethane deployment is a cost-effective route to delivering net zero, whilst also offering wider system benefits, such as waste management. This includes the Biomass Strategy 2023 estimate of 30-40TWh of biomethane production in 2050.
The Department is carefully considering this evidence to inform future support for the biomethane sector.