Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she will update Circular 01/2007 on speed camera guidance.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As outlined in the Road Safety Strategy, the Government will be reviewing and updating its guidance, including Circular 1/007 ‘The use of speed and red-light cameras for traffic enforcement: guidance on deployment, visibility and signing’. The update is under development and will be informed by research and evidence.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing the drink-drive limit from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood on rural pubs and communities; and if she will publish a full impact assessment, including evidence from Scotland, before bringing forward legislative changes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is consulting on proposed changes to penalties for motoring offences, as part of the recently published Road Safety Strategy.
As part of this, the Government is consulting on the general principle of lowering drink drive limit in England and Wales, which has remained unchanged since 1967 and is currently the highest in Europe.
Current evidence does not suggest a widespread or sustained adverse impact on the hospitality sector overall.
The Government will consider potential impacts on rural pubs and communities as part of its analysis of consultation responses.
The Government will conduct an impact assessment following consultation responses and an evidence‑led options analysis, and will publish it in line with usual practice where required.
The consultation is seeking views on a range of measures to reduce drink-driving, including options such as alcohol ignition interlocks (“alcolocks”) for offenders and powers to suspend licences for suspected drink or drug drivers.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with the Department of Health and Social Care on promoting regular sight tests for drivers as part of the Government’s road safety strategy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Both Department for Transport and Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency officials have worked with officials from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) while developing the proposed changes to eyesight testing for older drivers, and we will continue to engage with the DHSC as our policies develop further.
The Department for Transport fully supports the NHS’s recommendation that adults should have their eyes tested every two years.
All drivers, regardless of age, have a legal responsibility to inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) if they develop a medical condition that may affect their ability to drive.
On 7 January 2026 we published our new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all. Alongside the strategy, we launched five consultations including a consultation on introducing mandatory eyesight testing for older drivers.
Once the consultation has concluded, we will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to prioritise road maintenance issues that contribute to (a) serious injuries and (b) fatalities.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government takes road safety very seriously, and reducing the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on our roads is a key priority. On 7 January 2026 we published our Road Safety Strategy. The strategy sets an ambitious target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65%, and 70% for children by 2035.
We are also providing £7.3 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain local roads across the country.
The Government has also announced that a total of just under £25 billion, comprising both capital and revenue funding, will be invested in the Strategic Road Network over the five-year period 2026/27 to 2030/31. Further details, including annual funding profiles and the split between capital and revenue funding, will be set out in the Third Road Investment Strategy, to be published in March 2026.
Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highway network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards for maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.
There are occasions where potholes need to be repaired quickly for safety reasons, but temporary quick fixes should be avoided wherever possible in favour of a proper risk-based asset management approach. This is a core aspect of the Code of Practice for Well-managed highways infrastructure, which states that “when determining the balance between preventative and reactive maintenance, authorities should adopt the principle that prevention is better than cure”. This is available online, at: https://www.ciht.org.uk/ukrlg-home/code-of-practice/.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 93460 on Roads: Safety Barriers if she will publish the (a) location and route section, (b) date granted, c) reason of each departure from standard; what plans she has for upgrades to rigid concrete barrier.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The locations, routes and dates of approval for the departures from standard allowing steel crash barrier to be replaced with new steel barrier, rather than concrete, are as follows:
M4 Junctions 13-14: 20/08/2025
M6 Junction 37-38: 12/05/25
M5 Junctions 23-24: 24/04/24
A1(M) Junctions 37-38: 02/12/24
The reason for permitting departures from standard allowing the replacement of life-expired steel barrier with new steel barrier and not concrete barrier is due to the affordability of concrete barrier schemes – this can be either due to the cost of the concrete barrier in isolation or the additional works which would be required in order to change the barrier provision from steel barrier to concrete barrier.
Plans for upgrades to rigid concrete barrier:
Given the availability of new higher-containment modular precast concrete barriers, and higher-containment steel barriers, a tiered approach has now been adopted for the renewal of existing central reserve barriers. The highest tier is the provision of rigid, higher-containment concrete barrier. This can be relaxed to the provision of a non-rigid, higher-containment concrete barrier or a higher-containment steel barrier. However, this is only permitted if supported by a documented justification and risk assessment.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if her Department will fund and deliver a public awareness campaign in rural Somerset to promote the updated Highway Code as part of the new Road Safety Strategy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Following updates to the Highway Code in 2022, the department ran THINK! advertising campaigns nationally to raise awareness of the changes.
Local authorities are responsible for delivering road safety education and have a statutory duty to take steps both to reduce and prevent collisions. THINK! Highway Code campaign resources are available for local authorities to download from the THINK! website and are free to use for educational purposes: https://www.think.gov.uk/campaign/highway-code-changes/.
Via the THINK! campaign, we are also running year-round radio filler adverts across England and Wales encouraging compliance with the Highway Code.
Guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. We will also continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
In addition to the Highway Code activity, THINK! also runs paid advertising campaigns focused on the priority issues of speed, drink driving and drug driving. The primary audience for these campaigns is young men aged 17-24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over. All THINK! campaigns are run nationally, therefore rural Somerset is included.
As set out in the Road Safety Strategy, more work is needed to continue embedding these changes and overall awareness of the Highway Code. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether evidence or representations from stakeholders in Northern Ireland have been considered by the Motor Insurance Taskforce; and what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Northern Ireland insurance market, including differences in (a) pricing, (b) claims costs and (c) legal frameworks.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The work of the motor insurance taskforce focused on issues and concerns associated with the cost of insurance premiums and claims that are shared across the UK.
The taskforce heard representations that some of the unique features of the motor insurance market in Northern Ireland have led to increasing costs there. Some of those, such as road safety and costs associated with taking claims through the judicial system, are devolved matters for the Northern Ireland Executive to consider. The government will continue to work constructively with the Executive on relevant areas of policy.
The taskforce met for the first time on 16 October 2024 and subsequently met on 28 April 2025 and 21 July 2025, which was the final meeting of the taskforce. Taskforce members were the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, Department for Business and Trade, Financial Conduct Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority as well as the Department for Transport and HM Treasury, who were the co-chairs.
We do not plan to publish the minutes or summaries of meetings as they cover the formulation and development of ‘live’ government policy and to do so would hinder future policy development as it could inhibit a free exchange of views.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times the Motor Insurance Taskforce met since its establishment; on what dates those meetings took place; which organisations and departments were represented; and whether she plans to publish minutes or summaries from those meetings.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The work of the motor insurance taskforce focused on issues and concerns associated with the cost of insurance premiums and claims that are shared across the UK.
The taskforce heard representations that some of the unique features of the motor insurance market in Northern Ireland have led to increasing costs there. Some of those, such as road safety and costs associated with taking claims through the judicial system, are devolved matters for the Northern Ireland Executive to consider. The government will continue to work constructively with the Executive on relevant areas of policy.
The taskforce met for the first time on 16 October 2024 and subsequently met on 28 April 2025 and 21 July 2025, which was the final meeting of the taskforce. Taskforce members were the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, Department for Business and Trade, Financial Conduct Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority as well as the Department for Transport and HM Treasury, who were the co-chairs.
We do not plan to publish the minutes or summaries of meetings as they cover the formulation and development of ‘live’ government policy and to do so would hinder future policy development as it could inhibit a free exchange of views.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has conducted analysis of 20mph zones introduced across different localities in England comparing their impact on number of incidents, serious injuries and fatalities; and whether her Department has developed best practice guidance to ensure consistent delivery.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department’s comprehensive three-year evaluation of the effect of 20mph signed-only limits was published on 22 November 2018. It substantially strengthened the evidence base on perceptions, speeds and early outcomes associated with 20mph speed limits.
The power to set local speed limits, including 20mph limits and 20mph zones remains with traffic authorities. Any authority that wishes to install such schemes has the Department’s full backing. We believe that traffic authorities are best placed to decide where lower limits will be effective on the roads for which they are responsible, and that consultation and community support should be at the heart of the process.
As outlined in the Road Safety Strategy, the Government will be reviewing and updating its guidance on ‘Setting Local Speed Limits’. This will support local authorities in making well‑informed decisions about managing speed on their roads.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Dft 1-985, what progress she has made towards implementation of targets for Road Safety and the methods for monitoring of these targets in the long-term.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In November 2025, we published research and analysis on “Effectiveness of targets for road safety” which can be found here: Effectiveness of targets for road safety - GOV.UK. The evidence suggests that targets play a role in reducing fatalities, but their impact cannot be separated from wider road safety strategies.
On 7 January 2026 we published our new Road Safety Strategy, setting out our vision for a safer future on our roads for all.
The Strategy sets ambitious targets to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65%, and 70% for children, by 2035. This target will focus the efforts of road safety partners across Britain, with measures to protect vulnerable road users, update vehicle safety technologies and review motoring offences.
The Strategy also includes a set of Safety Performance Indicators to provide an understanding of performance against the commitments made in the strategy, including the targets.
All of this will be supported and monitored by a new Road Safety Board which I will chair.