Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department undertook an impact assessment of the effect on demand for electric vehicles in advance of the decision to reduce funding for the plug-in car grant.

For the last seven years, the Plug-in Car Grant (PICG) has provided a discount for over 160,000 new ultra-low emission vehicles. Following a review of the grant the Government announced reduced rates earlier this month, while introducing a new scheme to support the take-up of e-cargo bikes.

Among other things, the review evaluated the impact of reducing grant rates on vehicle sales using a leading consumer-choice model. This model estimates how consumers will react to an increase in the price of ultra-low emission vehicles.

The recent announcement will support the purchase of the next 35,000 of the cleanest vehicles.