Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential benefits of cycling for public health.

Cycling is one of the key physical activity examples promoted across the Chief Medical Officer guidelines for healthcare professionals to help them explain to patients the guidelines and how to implement them, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-physical-activity-guidelines.

Public Health England (PHE) promotes cycling as an accessible form of physical activity and its health benefits across its work on physical activity, health improvement and healthy environments. Guidance on the benefits of and practical approaches to creating environments that encourage cycling in publications such as PHE’s active travel briefing for local authorities available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523460/Working_Together_to_Promote_Active_Travel_A_briefing_for_local_authorities.pdf

The healthy weight and active design publications PHE has produced with the Town and Country Planning Association and Sport England respectively, available at:

https://www.sportengland.org/media/3426/spe003-active-design-published-october-2015-email-2.pdf

Cycling is prominent in social marketing campaigns that support people to get more physically active, such as One You for adults and Change4Life for children and families.