Ross MP Jesse Norman was asked—in his role as minister for secretary of state for transport—on the government’s plan for accessible charging for electric vehicles (EVs).

The question was in reference to the policy paper by his department entitled “Taking Charge”: the electric vehicle infrastructure strategy, published on 25 March 25, about how many charging companies have signed up to the British Standards Institute accessible charging standards.

Mr Norman said: “As the transition to electric vehicles (EV) accelerates it is important that public charge points are designed to be easily accessible to all those who need to use them, including disabled and elderly people. Working alongside the national disability charity Motability, the government commissioned the British Standards Institution (BSI) to produce a new accessibility standard – a world first. This standard, for the first time, lays out best practice on designing and installing accessible public EV charge points. The Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 1899 was published on October 11, 2022.”

He added: “Compliance with the PAS 1899 Standard is voluntary, and the Government does not measure the specific level of uptake. However, government will be actively encouraging its uptake and monitoring to assess whether further intervention is needed. This will inform the 24-month review of the standard, which will be led by the BSI.”