Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish guidance for local authorities relating to School Streets.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department is working with stakeholders to develop guidance to support local authorities that wish to introduce School Streets schemes. We aim to publish the guidance early next year.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department plans to take to improve road safety near schools.
Answered by Lord Harper
On 29 January 2022, we updated The Highway Code to improve road safety for cyclists and pedestrians by strengthening pedestrian priority on pavements and at crossings and introducing the Hierarchy of Road Users, which places those road users most at risk in the event of a collision, including children, at the top of the hierarchy. The Highway Code makes it clear that those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they pose to others and highlights the need to take care and be particularly aware of young cyclists and pedestrians near schools.
Local authorities have a range of traffic management measures available to them to help improve safety outside schools. These include 20mph speed limits, traffic calming, and introduction of a School Street where appropriate. Local authorities have the power to set speed limits on their roads. Authorities are also enabled to place advisory part-time 20mph speed limits signs in the vicinity of schools without the need for Government approval. It is for local authorities to determine what measures are appropriate in individual cases. They have the local knowledge making them the best placed to do so.
The Gear Change plan for walking and cycling (2020) included a number of steps which will support and increase safety of active travel to school, including increasing the number of School Streets (a timed restriction of motorised traffic at the start and end of the school day). The Department for Transport plans to publish School Streets guidance for local authorities in due course.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made made of the potential effect of e-scooters on the safety of visually impaired people.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Since July 2020 I have held four e-scooter roundtable meetings with groups representing the interests of disabled people, including those with sight loss. The most recent roundtable was held on 7 June 2021. Local areas involved in the trials gave presentations on what they are doing to address the concerns of disabled people in trial areas.
We have instructed all local authorities participating in trials to engage throughout the trial period with these groups in their local areas to ensure their concerns are being heard and, where possible, mitigated. Following our consultation last year, and feedback from subsequent stakeholder activities, we have required all e-scooters used in trials to have a horn or bell so that users can make others aware of their presence. The Department’s guidance for trial areas is also clear that there needs to be sufficient parking provision in trial areas; where a dockless operating model is being used, local authorities should ensure that e-scooters do not become obstructive to other road users and pedestrians, particularly those with disabilities.
The Department has in place a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme and we have also made additional commitments such as allowing vulnerable road user groups to take part in the evaluation process.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the ability of the London Ambulance Service to access sites affected by Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Implementation of traffic management schemes, including Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods, is a matter for local authorities. The Department has made no such assessment.
No ambulance trust has raised concerns with the Department about access or response times in such schemes. In addition, data obtained by Cycling UK shows that no such schemes had been implemented without the knowledge of the relevant ambulance trust and that no trust had identified delays to emergency response times resulting from schemes.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made on the effect on trends in the level of (a) school and (b) college attendance of the suspension of free and discounted travel for under 18’s in London.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The £1.6 billion Extraordinary Funding and Financing Agreement to enable Transport for London (TfL) to continue operating services contained a series of conditions to facilitate safe travel on public transport in London, including the temporary suspension of free travel for under 18s.
The Department is working closely with TfL and the Department for Education on how the temporary suspension can be operationalised. Any child eligible for free home to school travel under the Education Act 1996 will still receive this. The Department is also completing an Equality Impact Assessment, which will consider whether there are further categories of children that should receive free transport.