To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of public charging points in Staffordshire Moorlands for electric vehicles; and if he will ensure that there are adequate public charging points for such vehicles in the Staffordshire Moorlands ahead of the phasing out of non-electric vehicles.

Our vision is to have one of the best infrastructure networks in the world for electric vehicles (EVs), and we want chargepoints to be accessible, affordable and secure. The transition to zero emission vehicles is supported by a £2.8 billion package of measures. Of this £1.3 billion is being targeted to accelerate the roll out of charging infrastructure across the UK. Local authorities are able to take advantage of the £20 million On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS), which assists them with the cost of installing chargepoints on residential streets. In addition, in the recent Spending Review Government committed £90 million to fund local EV charging infrastructure, which will support the roll out of larger charging schemes and rapid hubs. Government has recognised that cost is not the only barrier facing local authorities in the provision of public charging points and will publish an electric vehicle infrastructure strategy this year to address the remaining barriers in infrastructure delivery. We are determined to work with industry to ensure that all rural areas like the Staffordshire Moorlands have a joined up and reliable public electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The Government does not keep a record of public chargepoints as many of these are installed and operated privately. Nationally, Government and industry have supported the installation of over 19,000 publicly available charging devices. This includes over 3,500 rapid devices – one of the largest networks in Europe.