Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of vehicles rented by his Department are electric vehicles.

Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of vehicles rented by his Department are electric vehicles.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Departments are allocated a combination of electric and hybrid vehicles which are owned by the Government Car Service based on operational and security requirements. However, details of the specific vehicles allocated to individual Ministers are not disclosed. Sharing this information, particularly when combined with other publicly available details, could compromise the security of Ministers and their transport arrangements.

For travel by civil servants, the Cabinet Office does not rent a fleet of vehicles. It does have a contract in place for the provision of hire vehicles. These are for short term vehicle hire and used for official travel. In 24/25 (the latest period where information is available), the Cabinet Office had 1,504 individual hires, covering 3,175 days of hire. Of these, 14 vehicles were fully electric, with a hire period of 29 days.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of vehicles rented by her Department are electric vehicles.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Department currently leases 705 vehicles; of which 57 are electric. This equates to 8% of total leased vehicles.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to transitioning towards full electrification of its fleet vehicles in line with the Government Greening Commitment 2027.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of implementing schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 on the (a) number and (b) effectiveness of sustainable drainage systems in new developments.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in new developments. These should be to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits, offer reuse opportunities, reduce run off and help to improve water quality, amenity and biodiversity. It is also important to ensure appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place.

We believe that these outcomes can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available or commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. A final decision on the way forward will be made in the coming months.

We will review the planning system holistically and consider whether further changes are required to address SuDS when we consult on further planning reform, including national policy related to decision making, in 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of vehicles rented by his Department are electric vehicles.

Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

As of 19th May 2025, 2,588 of the Ministry of Defence's 11,572 vehicles leased through the Phoenix II contract are fully electric, representing 22.36% of the fleet. This does not include hybrid vehicles as the Department is moving towards 100% zero emission vehicles by 2027 in accordance with the Greening Government Commitment.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of vehicles rented by her Department are electric vehicles.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Department makes use of the Government Car service, which provides vehicles to a number of Government departments. MHCLG does not hold information on the number of electric vehicles utilised.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of vehicles rented by her Department are electric vehicles.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

0.11% of cars rented by the department were electric vehicles over the past two years, which equated to a total of five.

The department will have a new vehicle hire contract in place from 2026 and, working with suppliers and other government departments, it is our intention to update our current vehicle hire policy to include a strategy of ‘electric first’. This will direct our drivers to seek electric vehicles as a first option, hybrids as a second option and finally combustion engine vehicles where there are no alternatives available.

Negotiating rights for police officers

School minibus safety

Found: Q253 Josh Newbury: This is something that has a lot of interest out there.

Found: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat; Glastonbury and Somerton) Jayne Kirkham (Labour; Truro and Falmouth) Josh Newbury

Found: _92 Josh Newbury .

Found: Sean Woodcock Gill Furniss David Baines Dr Allison Gardner Dave Robertson Jacob Collier Josh Newbury

Found: Clause 2, page 4, line 9, leave out paragraph (a) _92 Josh Newbury ★.

Found: Sean Woodcock Gill Furniss David Baines Dr Allison Gardner Dave Robertson Jacob Collier Josh Newbury

Found: Sean Woodcock Gill Furniss David Baines Dr Allison Gardner Dave Robertson Jacob Collier Josh Newbury

Found: Sean Woodcock Gill Furniss David Baines Dr Allison Gardner Dave Robertson Jacob Collier Josh Newbury

Found: Jermy Clive Lewis David Taylor Ellie Chowns Adrian Ramsay John McDonnell Dr Simon Opher Josh Newbury

Found: Jermy Clive Lewis David Taylor Ellie Chowns Adrian Ramsay John McDonnell Dr Simon Opher Josh Newbury

Found: Jermy Clive Lewis David Taylor Ellie Chowns Adrian Ramsay John McDonnell Dr Simon Opher Josh Newbury

Found: Jermy Clive Lewis David Taylor Ellie Chowns Adrian Ramsay John McDonnell Dr Simon Opher Josh Newbury

Submit Evidence (by 18 Jun 2025)

Much of the UK economy is still linear, based on the principles of using and disposing of products and the resources used to make them. This wastage leads to widespread environmental pollution and the continual and unsustainable need to extract finite resources.