Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's publication entitled The second cycling and walking investment strategy, published 10 March 2023, what progress his Department has made on completing its objective of increasing walking activity to 365 stages per person per year by 2025.

The Government’s most recent assessment of progress towards meeting its active travel goals was set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) report to Parliament in July 2022, a copy of which is available in the House Libraries. The most recent National Travel Survey statistics for 2021 show that the number of walking stages per person per year fell to 279 stages following impacts from the pandemic. The previous (CWIS1) objective of 300 stages per person had consistently been achieved from 2015 to 2019, with an average of 331 stages per person per year across this period, which is why the objective was made more ambitious in CWIS2. The latest statistics for 2022 are due to be published in September 2023, and the Department will provide a further assessment in its next report to Parliament in due course.