Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will set a deadline for all buses to be electrified.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the National Bus Strategy, Government committed to setting a legal end date for the sale of new, non–zero emission buses, and to set an expectation for when the entire fleet should be zero emission. In 2022, the Department held a public consultation on end of sales dates between 2025 and 2032 to gather views and inform a decision. We will make an announcement shortly. In this Parliament, we have allocated over £460m of dedicated funding for Zero Emission Buses in England (outside London).
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 73 of the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, which policy areas will receive funding from the £1.8 billion allocated to core net zero spend relating to the Department for Transport for the 2024-25 financial year; and how much funding as been issued to each of those policy areas for the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The £1.8 billion allocated to the Department for Transport for the financial year 2024-25 in the 2021 Spending Review supports net zero policies across zero emission vehicles (including buses) and electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the bus transformation funding to support local authority Bus Service Improvement Plans, air quality improvement measures, active travel policies, City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements, Nexus Metrofleet in Newcastle, rail electrification, and the UK’s production of sustainable aviation fuel.
£333 million of the £1.8 billion was reallocated to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (now the Department for Business and Trade), for the electrification of UK vehicle manufacturing and their supply chains, including through the Automotive Transformation Fund Programme.
The Department’s business planning process for 2024-25 financial year remains ongoing and final plans will be published in due course as per standard practice.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) pedestrians, and (2) drivers, have been (a) injured, or (b) killed, by electric scooters in each of the past three years.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT reports on the number of personal injury road traffic collisions involving e-scooters, in Great Britain, using the STATS19 reporting system.
STATS19 data does not allow the precise cause of collisions to be determined so it is not possible to provide figures for injuries or deaths caused by a particular road user type.
The table shows the number of reported road casualties for pedestrians and drivers of motorised vehicles (including cars, motorcycles, buses, coaches, and good vehicles) in collisions involving e-scooters by severity in Great Britain, 2020 to 2022 (the latest year for which data is available).
Year | Road user type | Killed | Serious injury (adjusted) | Slight injury (adjusted) | Total casualties |
2020 | Pedestrians | 0 | 13 | 44 | 57 |
2021 | Pedestrians | 0 | 66 | 163 | 229 |
2022 | Pedestrians | 1 | 60 | 172 | 233 |
2020 | Motorised vehicle drivers | 0 | 2 | 13 | 15 |
2021 | Motorised vehicle drivers | 0 | 3 | 27 | 30 |
2022 | Motorised vehicle drivers | 0 | 3 | 35 | 38 |
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to support local authorities to develop (a) carbon-neutral and (b) autonomous public transport systems.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Transport Decarbonisation Plan set out how we will drive decarbonisation at the local level, outlining how a ‘place-based’ approach will help make our villages, towns and cities cleaner, greener, healthier and more prosperous places to live, work and enjoy
The Department for Transport is also committing record amounts of funding for decarbonising public transport. Since March 2020, the Department has invested over £3.5 billion in buses, including £129 million to support the transition to an entirely zero-emission bus fleet. This has helped deliver 4,000 zero-emission buses across the UK.
In March 2023, DfT announced the launch of the £381 million Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund. The LEVI Fund supports local authorities (LAs) in England to work with industry and transform the availability of EV charging for drivers without off-street parking. This will deliver tens of thousands of local chargepoints, ensuring the transition to electric vehicles (EV) takes place in every part of the country.
Additionally, £1.3 million of Government funding is supporting local authorities and regional transport operators to study how self-driving vehicle technology can improve local public transport in remote, rural, and urban areas. Studies will look into how self-driving vehicle technology could be cheaper, emit less carbon, and increase safety and security compared to other forms of mass transit. The grants will help local places to build evidence on utilising emerging transport technologies to decrease carbon emissions.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many applications have been made to UK Export Finance for projects relating to green energy in 2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
UK Export Finance (UKEF) has received 7 formal applications for support for projects featuring renewable energy generation during the current calendar year. Other businesses have made enquiries to UKEF about the nature of support available, but have not yet made formal applications.
UKEF has also supported other transactions during the year relating to the construction of electric and hydrogen vehicles, including buses.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has provided recent guidance to public transport providers in Kingston Upon Hull North constituency on (a) accessibility and (b) permissions for passengers using electric mobility scooters.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In 2022 the Department issued Guidance to support licensing authorities with the implementation of updated laws improving disabled people’s access to taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs).
The Department also consulted on updated best practice guidance for taxi and PHV licensing authorities, including recommendations on providing a more inclusive service, and the substantive guidance document will be published later in 2023. Both documents are relevant to public transport authorities and providers across England, including those in Kingston Upon Hull North.
Rules on the carriage of mobility scooters vary by transport mode, and advice is provided in mode-specific guidance documents. There have been no recent major changes to such guidance for buses, taxis/PHVs or rail services.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information her Department holds on the number of electric vehicle manufacturing companies operating in the UK which have an ultimate owner based in (a) the UK and (b) China.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
As one of the best places for automotive manufacturing many of the world's leading companies manufacture or carry out R&D in the UK. This includes Lotus who make electric hypercars at their Hethel plant in Norfolk, and the London Electric Vehicle Company who produce Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles in Coventry. Both are owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.
UK owned Wrightbus produce electric buses at their Ballymena plant in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on allocating remaining Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas funding for this financial year.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In this Parliament we have awarded £320m of dedicated funding for ZEBs in England (outside of London). £270m was allocated to 17 local transport authorities (LTAs) through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) scheme, supporting up to 1,278 zero emission buses.
The Department will provide details on how future funding will be used shortly, taking into account the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many electric buses were introduced into (a) the UK and (b) Leeds in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021, (iv) 2022 and (v) to date in 2023; and what estimate he has made of the number planned to be introduced in (A) 2023, (B) 2024 and (C) 2025.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In the UK, in 2019, 105 Zero Emission Buses (ZEB) were registered for the first time. In 2020, this was 269, in 2021, 621, and for 2022, 649. This means, in 2021 and 2022, ZEBs equated to around 50% of new bus registrations in the UK.
In Leeds, 9 ZEBs were introduced in 2020, with a further 12 delivered in 2021. These were supported by the Department’s Ultra Low Emission Bus (ULEB) Scheme and through Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding.
As part of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) scheme, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) received over £24 million to support 111 ZEBs, to serve Leeds, and other districts of the Combined Authority. Additionally, WYCA received funding through the Department’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) for a further 8 ZEBs. These are currently going through procurement exercises, and I would expect them to be delivered soon.
We also anticipate that up to the following ZEBs to be on the road over the next three years:
I also welcome National Express’ recent announcement that they are investing in 300 UK-made electric buses, to be delivered by end of 2024. This investment was supported by uplift for ZEBs through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG).
The Department will provide details on future ZEB funding shortly.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of which UK-based industries, other than wind farms and electric vehicles, are dependent on the supply of lithium-ion batteries.
Answered by Graham Stuart
According to projections from a June 2022 report by the Faraday Institution, in 2040 lithium-ion batteries manufactured for private cars and light commercial vehicles will account for around 80% of total UK battery demand, with the remainder manufactured for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), buses, micromobility and grid storage:
https://www.faraday.ac.uk/news-ev-battery-prod-2040-update-june2022/.