HC Deb 07 October 2003 vol 411 cc185-6W
Bob Spink

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will introduce demand targets for LPG as a road fuel. [131686]

Mr. Jamieson

The Chancellor announced in Budget 2003 that the Government would be consulting stakeholders on how best to ensure that future support for road fuel gases, including LPG, continued to reflect environmental and other policy objectives, with a view to announcing decisions on future duty rates and other forms of support in the 2003 pre-Budget report. A joint Department for Transport, Treasury and Customs and Excise consultation document "Road fuel gases and their contribution to clean low-carbon transport: Establishing a consistent and durable framework of Government support" discussed the issues and invited comments by 17 September. The Government are now considering the responses received.

Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicles in the United Kingdom were propelled by(a) LPG, (b) CNG, (c) LNG and (d) hydrogen in the last year for which figures are available. [131707]

Mr. Jamieson

DVLA statistics do not provide a breakdown by fuel type, only vehicles that are dedicated gas or petrol/gas combinations. DVLA statistics also do not distinguish between Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Natural Gas vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Statistics from the DVLA for June 2003 show that there are 41,361 vehicles running on road fuel gases (Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and Hydrogen).

But this understates the number of vehicles because not all conversions to alternative fuelling are notified to DVLA. Industry sources suggest there are around 100,000 vehicles currently running on LPG, around 850 on natural gas (CNG and LNG) and there are presently only a few prototype/demonstration vehicles in UK running on hydrogen.

Mr. David Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many automotive refuelling points there were in the United Kingdom for(a) LPG, (b) CNG, LNG and (d) hydrogen in the last year for which figures are available. [131708]

Mr. Jamieson

Information supplied by the Energy Saving Trust show that there are currently around 1,300 LPG, 19 CNG and 7 LNG refuelling sites in the UK. There are currently no public access hydrogen refuelling points. However, a refuelling point will be available to support the Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE) hydrogen fuel cell bus project.

Forward to