Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of continuing the bus fare cap.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services is one of the government’s top priorities and we know how important this is for passengers and for local growth. The government is investing over £150 million to deliver a new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025 to help millions access better opportunities and promote greater bus use by passengers.
If we had not taken action in the Budget, the bus fare cap would have ended and fares would have jumped back up to their previous levels on 31 December 2024. This would have meant some fares soared above £10 on the most expensive routes, as the last government had not funded the fare cap beyond the end of the year. Instead, we chose to fund an additional year of the fare cap but with the maximum price now set at £3. This does not mean, however, that all fares will rise to £3 as we will require operators to demonstrate that they have not raised fares any higher than inflation.
This government is committed to improving bus services across the country, which is why the Budget allocated more than £1 billion to local bus services. This will be used to expand services and improve reliability, which are currently massive obstacles for too many people.
Moving forward, the government is exploring more targeted options that deliver value for money to the taxpayer, to ensure affordable bus travel is always available for the groups who need it the most – such as young people.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the (a) adequacy of schemes offered by the Government to encourage more people to buy electric vehicles and (b) effectiveness of those schemes in helping the UK reach its net zero targets.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to the transition to electric vehicles (EV) and is encouraging uptake through a range of taxation incentives and grants.
Drivers of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) will continue to benefit from favourable tax rates, such as generous company car tax incentives, which have been set until March 2030. ZEVs remain exempt from vehicle excise duty (VED) until April 2025, after which they will still have preferential first year rates.
In addition, the Government has announced £120m for next financial year to support the purchase of new electric vans and manufacturing of wheelchair accessible vehicles.
The Government is also committed to accelerating the rollout of charging infrastructure so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to an EV. As of 1 November, there are over 71,000 publicly available charging devices in the UK, alongside 680,000 private chargepoints in England alone, supporting drivers to switch to EVs.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting a presumptive right to install electric vehicle chargers at their own cost to people living in rented accommodation.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government already provides support for people living in rented accommodation to install chargepoints, through its Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant. This provides up to £350 toward the costs of purchasing and installing an electric vehicle chargepoint. We will continue to review whether further steps are needed.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions her Department has had with local authorities on reducing processing times for blue badge applications.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport sets the legislation that governs the Blue Badge scheme and provides guidance for local authorities who are solely responsible for administering the scheme, including issuing the badges.
There are no timescales set for administering applications other than a suggested guideline that issuing authorities should aim to complete end to end applications within 12 weeks.
80% of citizens apply for a badge using the Blue Badge Digital Service (BBDS) operated by the Department for Transport. The Department has a programme of continuous improvement of the digital service with the aim of making online badge applications quicker and easier for applicants and local authorities.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of making lifetime Blue Badge awards to people with lifelong conditions.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As a general principle, Blue Badge eligibility is based on mobility. Reapplying for a badge every three years gives local authorities the opportunity to reassess badge holders when their badges expire, ensuring that they continue to meet the criteria which makes them eligible for a badge. It also serves the purpose of making sure that the details local authorities hold about the badge holder, and those that are displayed on the badge itself, remain correct.