Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that his Department's next periodic survey of seatbelt and mobile telephone use by motorists (a) covers London in its survey sample and (b) takes account of taxi and private hire vehicles and their use of cradled mobile telephones.

The Department’s survey of hand-held mobile phone use and seat belt compliance has been designed primarily to produce national rather than regional estimates for Great Britain. A new survey for 2017 is currently being procured, which includes options to allow extra surveys to be commissioned for specific areas, including by Transport for London to secure London level data.

The survey will record data about taxi and private hire vehicles; however, no currently tested methodology enables information to be gathered about the use of cradled mobile telephones using roadside observation.