The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Guy Opperman)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Selby and Ainsty (Keir Mather) on securing his first Adjournment debate. I think this is the first time I have had the opportunity to answer questions from him in the House of Commons, so I congratulate him on winning the by-election. My research tells me that he was born in 1998, which is a very scary thought for those of us who well remember 1998. It is of particular concern to me that when he first came to the House, he indicated to me that he used to work for my first parliamentary staffer, Pete McManus, whom he described as my boss. It is a worry when things are so proximate that the age of individual Members of Parliament is catching up on you. I am sure that that is not an issue for anyone else in the House but it definitely is for me.
I take this debate very seriously, and the hon. Gentleman rightly raises the concerns of his constituents. I pass on my condolences on behalf of the Government and on behalf of everyone here today for the recent fatality that has taken place. Before responding to the essence of what he said, I want to make it clear that every death or serious injury on our roads—not just in North Yorkshire but up and down the country—is a tragedy, and we continue to work tirelessly to improve road safety for all users. That is not just drivers; it is also pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists and mobility scooter users. However, the fact is that Britain has some of the safest roads in the world. The most recent records show that 1,711 people were killed and 28,000 seriously injured on our roads. However, that is clearly a tragedy for any individual so affected and for their family, and we want to work to address that.
I want to make a number of points. Speed-calming measures were a massive part of the hon. Gentleman’s speech. Local authorities, as he rightly identified, have powers under the Highways Act 1980 to install a range of traffic-calming measures. Road humps, chicanes and other such features have all been proven to reduce inappropriate vehicle speed, which, as well as reducing the risk of collisions, lessens the severity of any that do occur. There is also the ability to install other measures to improve road safety, such as pedestrian crossings and 20 mph speed limits. The Department for Transport produces a wide range of good practice advice to help our local authorities to design and deliver such measures. It is for the local council to decide what measures may be appropriate in different locations, taking into account a vast number of criteria. The Department does not set numerical criteria for footfall or collision numbers that must be met to justify the installation of such safety measures. Local authorities can choose to set their own criteria, but that is a decision for them.
I now turn to the vexed issue of 20 mph zones. Every Member will be acutely aware that the introduction of a not total but effective 20 mph zone in Wales has been a singularly unpopular policy that has caused great concern, and it is certainly not something that the Government support. On the other hand, as far as I am aware, not a single Member of Parliament is against the concept of 20 mph zones around schools. There has to be a happy medium, and that is a local authority decision. There are all manner of different factors, including how a zone will influence quality of life, road safety, the environment and the local economy. Local authorities should also take into account the Department’s plan for drivers. To assist them, we are updating the 20 mph speed limit guidance for England to ensure consistency.
I asked for the road safety statistics for the hon. Gentleman’s constituency dating back some considerable time, and my source is the STATS19 data adjusted for changes in reporting systems. There were 46 KSI—killed or seriously injured—casualties on an adjusted basis in 2022, compared with 138 in 2009. We all accept that all the numbers are too high. There is much criticism of both the local authority and this Government, but I gently point out that Labour was in government in 2009. There is a significant difference, and the number has been in double figures since 2013. One can bandy around statistics, but it is clear that the number has come down significantly.
There are a couple of key points to note. First, there has clearly been significant investment in North Yorkshire with the A59 Kex Gill scheme, the A164 Jock’s Lodge junction improvement, the A1237 York outer ring road dualling and the A1079 improvement scheme. I merely make the point that those road improvements have inevitably improved safety.
Andrew Jones
The Minister will have seen that, yesterday, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was allocated £380 million from the local transport fund. When we have a local Mayor in place, could that money be used to fund road safety improvements through capital projects?
Guy Opperman
The answer is yes, quite simply. It is legitimate to say that this new money for areas across the country, which was announced only yesterday, is a result of the Prime Minister’s decision on the second leg of High Speed 2. A £4.7 billion, seven-year local transport fund has been made available to a large number of local authorities outside the city regions—city regions receive city region sustainable transport settlements—in the north and midlands.
The LTF includes £2.5 billion for local authorities in the north and £2.2 billion for local authorities in the midlands, and that funding will be available from 1 April 2025. This allows local authorities and combined authorities to plan and set their processes, to consult in the appropriate way and then to deliver.
The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority will receive £379 million—I correct my hon. Friend by £1 million—from the local transport fund, which will be game changing. There is much criticism of the local authority, but I met Keane Duncan, local representatives and Members of Parliament when I visited the region at the beginning of January. I was impressed by their commitment to try to do transformational work for North Yorkshire, which includes making the case for further funding. As my hon. Friend outlined, we have been delighted to set forth and provide that. It can bring about road improvements, pelican crossings, road safety measures and traffic-calming measures, and can address other particular points. The guidance will be published shortly, but the fact that it is dramatic new money to assist with specific transport policies can only be welcomed.
I wish to make a few extra points. Road safety is determined, fundamentally, by individual drivers. We should all acknowledge that we can throw brickbats at local authorities or Government, but we require drivers to change their ways. When my hon. Friend was in the Department for Transport, he instituted changes to the highway code and to the driving test. The test that those of us of more advanced years took is dramatically different from the one taken by someone of more recent years, and the highway code is also dramatically different. It includes a hierarchy of road users and makes it very clear that there is a greater degree of reliance upon safety; we are conscious that the driver needs to be better qualified. There is no comparison between the old test and the new test. That has made a difference, which can be seen in the reduction in the numbers that we see in the safety statistics. That is just the tip of the iceberg, and I wish to set out some of the other Government interventions that have been made.
The safer roads fund has invested £47.5 million to fund 27 schemes, taking the total funding to tackle our most dangerous roads to £147.5 million over 83 schemes since 2017. We have made interventions to legislate to address some of the most dangerous activity on our roads. Clearly, the rules on mobile phones have changed. We have also increased the sentence for causing death by dangerous driving, or careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs, from 14 years’ to life imprisonment. We have increased the disqualification period for those causing death by dangerous driving or death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs from two years to five.
We have also undertaken a number of projects to improve the safety of our roads, including the roads policing review, whereby the number of forces putting road policing in their police and crime plans has increased from 15 to 42, with 30 now including road safety. Roads policing has been a strategic policing requirement since February 2023. That sounds techy but it genuinely makes a difference. Our Project RADAR is a systematic investigation that is creating new opportunities to combine and compare data across Departments, arm’s length bodies and policing. That is identifying and intercepting the most dangerous vehicles on our roads. I could go on.
Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)
This is a wonderful debate and I commend the hon. Member for Selby and Ainsty (Keir Mather) for bringing it to the Floor of the House. I thank the Minister for permitting me to intervene. He will be very aware of my interest in the increase in insurance premiums, as we had a Westminster Hall debate on that last week. People are now deciding not to insure their vehicle and still go on the road, which is increasing risk. Does he agree that action is needed to ensure that we support young drivers to get on the roads, but to do so safely? Will he further consider the graduated driver licensing scheme, which I believe would help with that safety element for young people?
Guy Opperman
The hon. Lady is continuing in a rich tradition established by her illustrious colleague the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). We miss him in the debate today, but we take her as a very able replacement. Her debate last week was attended by a number of colleagues and I have had a chance to read it; I should have been responding to it, but I happened to be responding to the Adjournment debate in this place at the same time and, as we all know, nobody can be in two places at the same time in the House of Commons, so I apologise, but the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Anthony Browne), sat in for me at that debate.
I will take away the comments that the hon. Lady made today and in last week’s debate, and write to her in more detail, if she would be so gracious as to allow me to do so. I take on board that there are clearly ongoing issues in respect of insurance. We are working with insurance companies; there have been issues around raising the price of insurance that are, quite frankly, beyond the Government’s control. She makes some legitimate points on the matter, and we want to address those that she raised both in the debate last week and today.
Let me back to the points made by the hon. Member for Selby and Ainsty. There are certain key campaigns; changes to the highway code and driving tests are key, because we are trying to change drivers’ behaviour. That is the most important thing. We can rail against individual pieces of road, but changing the behaviour of drivers is the real way to improve road safety. The Department for Transport’s THINK! campaign continues to target the most at-risk group. Its aim is to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads by changing attitudes and behaviours.
I could go on in more detail, but I will make a couple of final points. The safer roads fund has undertaken key projects in North Yorkshire, including £900,000 for the A167, £615,000 for the A682, £7 million for the A684 and £2.9 million for the A6108. Those are substantial investments that the Government have made in the past. Substantial investment will also follow yesterday’s announcement, which makes this debate all the more relevant.
To conclude, I congratulate the hon. Member for Selby and Ainsty on securing his first debate. He raises important points for his local community, and I am certain they will be taken on board. I would gently push back on the points he makes about local statistics, the actions of his local authority and the complexity of the issues. The key point is that it is in all our interests to try to improve road safety up and down the country.
Question put and agreed to.