Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
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.
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 proportion of vehicles rented by his Department are electric vehicles.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In FY24-25, DESNZ had 149 hires, including 6 electric vehicles. The data for FY25-26 to date is not yet available.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was formed in February 2023, therefore there is no data for DESNZ prior to that date. Additionally, for FY23-24 the car hire contract used was still under DESNZ’s predecessor department, Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and all bookings were assigned to BEIS cost centres. It is not possible to determine which of these hires related to DESNZ.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of land-based fish farms which use indoor tanks instead of ocean- or lake-based pens on animal welfare.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Current legislation already provides protection for farmed fish kept for the production of meat or other products whilst on farm. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any protected animal, including fish, or to fail to provide for the welfare needs of a protected animal, for which that person is responsible. The Farm Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish was also published in 2014.
The potential impact of land-based recirculating aquaculture systems on fish welfare is an issue we are considering.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the harmonisation in the upcoming Trade Strategy of animal welfare standards between domestically-produced goods and imported goods.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.
The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare. We will promote robust standards nationally and internationally and will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage.
The Government recognises farmers’ concerns about imports produced using methods not permitted in the UK. We have been clear that we will use our Trade Strategy to support economic growth and promote the highest standards of food production.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of vehicles rented by her Department are electric vehicles.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Carbon emission details, including vehicles rented, will be published later this year within in the Sustainability Report section of HM Treasury 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts. This will be published at the following link.
HMT annual report and accounts - GOV.UK
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of phasing out the use of (a) enriched cages and (b) farrowing crates on English farms.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will consult on introducing animal welfare standards for farmed fish.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for North Herefordshire, Ellie Chowns, on 6 March 2025, PQ 34489.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of vehicles rented by her Department are electric vehicles.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
For security reasons, specific details in relation to the use of official cars, including the make and model of vehicles, are not released.
Guidance relating to the use of official cars in the Government Car Service is set out in the Civil Service Management Code.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what proportion of vehicles rented by his Department are electric vehicles.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department has a contract with Enterprise for car hire. In the 2024/25 financial year there were 672 rentals, of which 4 were electric vehicle (EV) rentals (0.61%). All vehicle types were rented for 1672 days in total, of which 7 were EV rental days (0.42%).
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of vehicles rented by her Department are electric vehicles.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This information is not centrally collected, and could only be obtained for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.