Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of cycling to (a) physical health, (b) mental health and (c) the environment.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Department published a rapid evidence assessment on investing in cycling and walking in April 2017 which considered a wide range of benefits from cycling and walking, including health and the environment. The Department has also worked in collaboration with Public Health England on the November 2018 publication Cycling and walking for individual and population health benefits and Sport England on the active travel and physical activity review published in May 2019.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the laws relating to traffic offences are effectively enforced.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The responsibility for the enforcement of criminal law, including traffic offences, is a matter for the Police who work under Home Office guidance. Decisions on how the Police deploy resources is a matter for the Police and Crime Commissioners and the Chief Constables for each police force.
The detailed statistics on prosecutions and convictions for motoring offences between 2010 and 2017 have been fairly stable. However there has been an increase in Police using education courses under the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) from 467,601 courses in 2010 to 1,445,817 in 2018.
The National Speed Awareness Course impact evaluation, published in 2017, found that participation in the course was more effective at preventing speed reoffending than fines and penalty points over a period of 3 years following the initial offer to attend. The National Speed Awareness Course is now offered by most police forces in England and Wales.
In March 2018, we provided a grant of £370,000 to PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety) to run a competition to encourage the development of mobile evidential breath testing instruments which will meet the Home Office type approval requirements. Phase 2 of this competition closes at the end of June 2019.
The DfT has recently invested £100,000 to support the digital capacity of the police to enable them to handle dash and helmet cam evidence in respect of road traffic offences.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on national minimum standards for (a) walking and (b) cycling infrastructure.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Department’s Local Transport Note 2/08 ‘Cycle Infrastructure Design’ provides guidance regarding minimum standards for walking and cycling infrastructure. The Department is currently in the process of updating this national guidance and will publish the updated guidance in due course.
Local authorities are responsible for setting their own design standards. The Government has no plans to legislate for minimum standards for cycling and walking infrastructure.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve road safety for cyclists.
Answered by Michael Ellis
In November, the Government published its response to the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS): safety review call for evidence. The response sets out a vision and a two-year plan containing 50 actions to tackle cycling, walking and horse riding safety. The action plan will help deliver the Government’s commitment to increase cycling and walking and make our roads safer for cyclists and other vulnerable road users.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all modes of public transport are fully accessible for wheelchair users.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Government is committed to ensuring disabled people, including wheelchair users, have the same access to public transport and opportunities to travel as everyone else.
In July 2018 the Department published the Inclusive Transport Strategy. Its ambition is to create a transport system that provides equal access for disabled people by 2030, and to enable disabled people to travel confidently, easily and without extra cost.
The Department is making good progress delivering the many commitments set out in the Strategy, and will be reporting to Parliament on this in the summer.