Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to mandating electric vehicle charging point accessibility standards to remove any economic disadvantages incurred through voluntary compliance by charge point operators.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all electric vehicle drivers can easily find public chargepoints that they can use.

The Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 1899 provides specifications on designing and installing accessible chargepoints. Compliance with PAS 1899 is currently voluntary. However, Government is actively encouraging local authorities, and other relevant parties, to incorporate accessibility into their procurement models, including through the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund. This £381 million fund will support local authorities to work with industry to ensure that the transition to EVs takes place in every part of the country.

The Department will continue to monitor progress to assess whether further intervention is required, including through a 24-month review into implementation of PAS 1899, launched in December 2023 and led by the British Standards Institution.