Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 2
14th Report - Public charge points for electric vehicles
Published 12 Mar 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Public charge points for electric vehicles All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Delays to the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) programme mean that local authorities need further support. The £450m LEVI programme supports local authorities in England to install charge points where they identify they are most needed. In setting up the programme the Department was able to apply lessons from its previous work, such as providing funding to build capability and providing central support, which has resulted in all eligible local authorities engaging with the LEVI programme. However, the Department expected local authorities to move at a quick pace, and acknowledged that more time than expected was needed to build local authority capacity and respond to issues that emerged. These issues have led to delays; as of October 2024 only 10 out of 78 projects had 4 been approved for delivery against a March 2025 deadline. These delays have meant that many local authorities will be procuring at similar times, posing the risk that the market may not have the capacity to serve them all and some procurements fail. The Department must ensure that local authorities remain supported to conduct successful procurements and secure good value through competition between operators. It’s extension of the programme’s capability funding beyond March 2025 is a welcome development in maintaining its central support. recommendation The Department should write to the committee within six months with an update on progress with LEVI, in particular: a. The amounts of money spent b. The number of projects which have completed procurement c. Whether any procurements failed d. How the Department is continuing to support local authorities delivering their projects e. How the Department is applying lessons from LEVI to its other programmes engaging local authorities
From: Public Accounts Committee, 14th Report - Public charge points for electric vehicles (HC 512), 12 March 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fourteenth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fourteenth report from Session 2024-25
Published 16 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the six conclusions, with commitments to write to the Committee in September 2025 and to confirm other next steps "in due course".
- On local variation in charge point need, it will "look to take a similar needs-based approach to any interventions required in future" and will pay close attention to outcomes from early LEVI Fund procurements.
- On LEVI and on ultra-rapid charge points at motorway service areas, the department will write to the Committee within six months (target date September 2025) with updates on progress.
- On accessibility, it is reviewing the PAS 1899:2022 standard, and recommendations and proposed next steps "will be confirmed in due course". Target implementation date: December 2025.
- On VAT and charging costs, it will "continue to work with HM Treasury to understand the variance in costs" between public and domestic charging and the extent to which any policy change might affect public charging prices.