Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of vehicles in the car fleet for (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials are pure electric cars.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government Car Service (GCS) provide a Departmental Pool Car Service to Departments as a shared resource. Ministers have access to this service which is managed by the receiving Department. The GCS currently operates 38 battery electric cars (33% of the GCS fleet). Initial capital costs to procure battery electric cars for the GCS fleet incurred an uplift of at least 18% compared to a similar fit for purpose car.
A comparison of annual running costs is not held at present by GCS. This is due to the fact that the electric battery fleet is charged at multiple locations across numerous Government departments, and that data is not recorded. However, in many cases, electric vehicles continue to benefit from significant savings on the cost of fuel. Charging a medium sized electric car at rates equivalent to the January 2024 electricity price cap equates to around half the cost of filling up an equivalent petrol vehicle. In addition to this, electric vehicles generally cost less to maintain due to fewer moving parts than their petrol or diesel equivalents.
Asked by: Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the official cars used by Cabinet Members are electric, including those for the Prime Minister.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Prime Minister and many Cabinet members are entitled to protection; this service is provided by the Metropolitan Police. One member has their own arrangement for transport with a private hire company. The Department for Transport does not hold information on the cars they are provided with.
The Government Car Service (GCS) provides a Departmental Pool Car service to Departments as a shared resource. The remaining members that attend Cabinet will have access to cars provided by GCS including battery electric and petrol electric hybrid models.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of cars in the UK are electric vehicles.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The latest official statistics show that the proportion of cars in the UK that are battery electric is 1.7% as of 30 September 2022.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the the adequacy of the (a) range, (b) security and (c) comfort of electric vehicles procured by the Government Car Service for Government use.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government Car Service (GCS) now operates 38 battery electric cars.
(a) The range of these cars is more than adequate for most journeys, whilst other vehicles are available if needed for longer journeys.
(b) The security of GCS vehicles and their passengers is a priority. Various modifications are made to these vehicles prior to entering service.
(c) All vehicles procured by GCS are evaluated for fitness for purpose to enable Ministers to work in reasonable comfort while travelling.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the central government fleet of cars is electrified.
Answered by Jesse Norman
As of 31 March 2022, 18% of vehicles in the government car fleet are ultra-low emission. In total, there are 24,336 cars in the central government fleet of which 4,315 are ultra-low emission.
The Government will report further updates on its progress to decarbonising its car fleet in due course.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of his Department's fleet of vehicles are electric.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There are 521 electric vehicles in the Department’s vehicle fleet. This represents 41.4% of the Departments fleet of 1257.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of vehicles owned or hired by the government to transport (1) ministers, and (2) senior civil servants, on official business are fully electric.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government Car Service (GCS) provides a departmental pool car service to most Government Departments. Cars are provided as a shared resource for Ministers and senior officials, which is managed by individual departments. The departmental pool car fleet currently consists of 96 vehicles. 28 of those vehicles are fully electric (29%) and 26 are hybrid electric (27%).
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the vehicles used by his Department on Government business are electric vehicles.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Victoria Prentis
As of 12 November 2020, the proportion of electric cars operated by Defra is 6.0%. The table below shows the proportion split by organisation.
Organisation | Diesel / Petrol | Hybrid | Plug-in hybrid | Fully Electric | Total | Fully Electric Proportion |
Animal and Plant Health Agency | 162 | 90 | 7 | 4 | 263 | 1.5% |
Defra | 87 | 27 | 22 | 14 | 150 | 9.3% |
Environment Agency | 2,172 | 1,078 | 432 | 251 | 3,933 | 6.4% |
Marine Management Organisation | 17 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 4.2% |
Natural England | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
Rural Payments Agency | 84 | 33 | 6 | 1 | 124 | 0.8% |
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
Total | 2,531 | 1,233 | 468 | 271 | 4,503 | 6.0% |
All of the cars above are managed by Defra Group Fleet Services (Environment Agency). There are other cars within Defra (the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and Sea Fish). However, they manage their own fleets and we do not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of Ministerial vehicles are electric.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
With the support of the Department for Transport, the Government Car Service (GCS) is replacing its fleet with Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles as they become due for replacement. Currently 50% of the GCS fleet is now either battery electric or petrol/electric hybrid and we are actively looking at options to accelerate this transition.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his Answer of 21 July 2020 to Question 72801 on Official Cars: Production, how many Ford Mondeo hybrid cars there are in the Government Car Service fleet.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
There are 21 Ford Mondeo hybrid cars in the Government Car Service (GCS) fleet. These are due for replacement with Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV’s) within the next 18 months.