Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on bringing forward legislative proposals to create a specific criminal offence for people who cause death or injury by dangerous driving.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
There are currently criminal offences that cover these matters. However, we keep the law under review and listen to the concerns of those affected by tragic cases of death or serious injury.
The Government is considering a Call for Evidence on motoring offences. while the potential scope and timings are being confirmed, it is expected that it will include issues around drink and drug driving, and the offence of failure to stop and report. There may also be the opportunity to highlight other areas of concern.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of Sate for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities on the role of local planning authorities in England in enabling walking, wheeling and cycling.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have confirmed that Active Travel England will become a statutory consultee in the planning system from June this year. Active Travel England also provided design reviews for relevant submissions to the Levelling Up Fund. The Department for Transport will continue to support DLUHC on its consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework and would encourage all interested in these matters to respond to that consultation.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward regulations under the Bus Services Act 2017 to require bus operators to provide (a) audible and (b) visual information on all bus services on the (i) next stop and (ii) final destination of that service.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I want to ensure that disabled people have the confidence to travel by bus and recognise that audible and visual information supports that. I remain committed to making Accessible Information Regulations, so that passengers can begin benefitting from audible and visible route and stop information as soon as possible.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas funding that will be spent on vehicle charging infrastructure.
Answered by Jesse Norman
As part of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) scheme, local authorities were able to bid for:
As the costs of zero emission buses and supporting infrastructure will vary between projects, the proportion of grant funding spent on supporting infrastructure varies between projects.
As a proportion of the total grant funding awarded for the entire scheme, approximately 19% of the costs relate to infrastructure, including both electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it remains her Department’s policy to introduce a Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate by 2024 as set out in the Net Zero Strategy.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate will increase the UK’s supply of ZEVs, create thousands of new jobs and put our industry at the forefront of this global transition. It will help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, encourage new investments in infrastructure and improve consumer choice. A technical consultation on its design closed on 10 June and we are now analysing consultation responses. We will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the 300,000 public electric vehicle charge points that his Department plans to be delivered by 2030 by (a) private sector investment, (b) local authority investment and (c) investment from central Government.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We do not have estimates broken down by types of investment.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number of public electric vehicle charge points that have been delivered with funding from (a) the private sector, (b) local authorities and (c) central government in each of the last five years.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The total number of public electric vehicle chargepoints in the UK, as of 01 January, for each of the last 5 years, is given in the table below:
Year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Total | 7,211 | 10,309 | 16,505 | 20,775 | 28,375 |
Source: DfT/Zap Map
The total number of public electric vehicle chargepoints in the UK, funded through the OZEV On-Street Residential ChargePoint scheme (ORCS), for each of the last 5 financial years is given in the table below:
Year | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Total | 50 | 427 | 1,099 | 1,015 | 50 |
ORCS grants are offered to successful applicants, but funds are only released upon final completion of installation. These figures only include charging devices that have been installed and claimed for.
In 2016 government awarded £40m to eight local authorities to support the delivery of a wide range of innovative chargepoint solutions in their areas. The total number of chargepoints delivered is provided in the table below. This includes fast and rapid chargepoints.
Local Authority | Chargepoints |
Bristol City Council | 179 |
Dundee City Council | 30 |
Transport for London | 4,300 |
Milton Keynes Council | 156 |
North East | 28 |
Nottingham City Council | 229 |
Oxford City Council | 46 |
York City Council | 38 |
The Department’s data on the total number of public electric vehicle chargepoints comes from Zap-Map. We are unable to determine from this data which of the public chargepoints were delivered through funding from (a) the private sector or (b) local authorities.
While the Department publishes data on the number of chargepoints delivered through funding for domestic and workplace grant schemes, these charge points are not intended for public use.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the proportion of (a) particulate matter air pollution and (b) nitrogen dioxide air pollution emitted by buses as a proportion of total surface transport in (a) England and (b) the UK is attributed to buses.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK’s National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) is compiled annually to report emissions by pollutant and source sector. The latest data available at Devolved Administration level is for 2019 and is publicly available at: https://naei.beis.gov.uk/reports/reports?report_id=1030.
Data from the NAEI for 2019 shows that in the UK 1.1% of total nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions were attributable to buses and 2.4% from public transport. In England 1.2% and 2.7% of total NOx emissions were buses and public transport respectively.
For particulate matter less than 10 micron (PM10), data from the NAEI for 2019 shows that in the UK 0.3% of total PM10 emissions were attributable to buses and 0.5% to public transport. In England these are 0.3% and 0.5% of total PM10 emissions respectively.
For particulate matter less than 2.5 micron (PM2.5), 0.3% of total PM2.5 emissions were from buses and 0.5% from public transport in 2019. In England buses and public transport contributed 0.3% and 0.6% of total PM2.5 emissions respectively.
Figures provided above for public transport include buses and rail only. Figures for buses include both buses and coaches. Figures for rail has excluded rail freight.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much total funding has been awarded to each of the devolved Administrations for the purchases of zero emission buses as of 24 May 2022; and what estimate he has made of the number of zero emission buses that that funding will deliver in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In Scotland the Scottish Government has funded 272 zero emission buses through the Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme and 276 zero emission buses through the Scottish Zero Emission Bus challenge fund. Transport funding in Scotland is supported by the UK block grant awarded to the Scottish Government.
In Wales, 68 zero emission buses have been directly supported by the UK Government through funding to Welsh local transport authorities and bus operators. The Welsh Government has also provided funding for further zero emission buses. Transport funding in Wales is supported by the UK block grant awarded to the Welsh Government.
In 2020 the Government provided £50 million funding to the Northern Ireland Executive for ultra low emission public transport. This funding will support the introduction of over 100 zero emission buses in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many buses in total are currently operating in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland; and what proportion of these buses are (i) electric, (ii) hybrid-diesel, (iii) biomethane, (iv) diesel and (v) other fuels.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The requested figures are in the tables below. The Department does not collect this data for Northern Ireland.
Table 1 – Number of buses used as Public Service Vehicles by local bus operators as at 31 March 2021
Thousand
Financial year | England | Scotland | Wales | Great Britain | ||
2020/21 | 32.7 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 37.8 |
|
|
Source: DfT Annual Bus Statistics (BUS0602)
Table 2 – Percentage of buses used as Public Service Vehicles by fuel consumption type as at 31 March 2021
Fuel Consumption Type | England | Scotland | Wales | Great Britain | ||
Hydrogen | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
|
|
Electric (not hybrid) | 2% | 2% | 0% | 2% |
|
|
Diesel-Hybrid | 14% | 7% | 0% | 13% |
|
|
Methane/Biomethane | 1% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
|
|
Diesel | 79% | 87% | 98% | 81% |
|
|
Other (including Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO)) | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
|
|
Unknown | 3% | 6% | 2% | 3% |
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Source: DfT Annual Bus Statistics (BUS0609b)