Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 20
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)
Similarly, many planning processes were not designed with charge point operators in mind, causing unnecessary additional cost and time. The Department explained that it had recently announced a series of changes to ease planning barriers and make it easier to install a charge point, such as greater permitted development rights, and streamlining the consents needed to install charge points on public highways.36 However, there remain bottlenecks; for example, dedicating parking bays for electric vehicles requires a Traffic Regulation Order which can take a number of weeks to carry out. The Department replied that it is currently testing a digital system to speed up the application time to a couple weeks. When challenged on why it could take until 2026 to implement changes from a review to assess whether Traffic Regulation Orders were needed at all, the Department stated that removing these orders might take choices away from local authorities to decide on the mix of parking they need. However, the same argument could have been made in advance of changes to permitted development in the planning system. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is also intending to consult on process changes for securing access to third party land for energy infrastructure upgrades.37
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.