Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve access to electric vehicle charging points for public use in Birmingham.

Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles to support the rollout of charging infrastructure, with a particular focus on local on-street residential charging, and targeted plug-in vehicle grants. The total funding committed by this Government to both electric vehicle grants and infrastructure is £2.5 billion.

To date, grant funding for both electric vehicles and their supporting charging infrastructure has been demand led so there is no specific amount of funding that has been allocated to Birmingham City Council. We encourage all Local Authorities, electric vehicle drivers and workplaces in Birmingham to apply for grant funding through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint, Electric Vehicle Homecharge and Workplace Charging Schemes to assist with the cost of buying and installing electric vehicle chargepoints on residential streets, at drivers’ homes and at workplaces.

We are considering the design of new schemes to ensure good provision across the country. Our forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy will set out how the Government will intervene to address the gaps between the current market status and our vision, and how we will monitor progress going forward to 2030.