Jim Fitzpatrick
Main Page: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)Department Debates - View all Jim Fitzpatrick's debates with the Department for Transport
(12 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr McLoughlin
I sympathise with the obviously frustrating experience that my hon. Friend’s constituents are having. I know that he has been in correspondence with the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), who leads on the matter in the Department. The Government have provided an extra £10 million of funding this year to help kick-start the development of community transport services in rural areas, and west Yorkshire received £385,000 of that. I am interested in hearing about the experiences of my hon. Friend’s constituents, however, and we will look into the matter.
Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)
On Tuesday the Road Safety Foundation, chaired by Lord Dubs, launched its annual report. It stated:
“Simple attention to safety engineering detail has resulted in extraordinary cuts in road deaths and serious injuries”.
Other leading countries in road safety are committed to improving the safety star rating of their national road networks. What emphasis are our Government placing on that?
Mr McLoughlin
We place a lot of emphasis on it. I spent a morning a few weeks ago with road traffic officers in the west midlands, looking at how they operate their managed motorways. They have had great success in reducing accidents on the M42 since it has become a managed motorway. Road safety is incredibly high on our agenda, and as I said, we have announced £170 million for relieving pinch points, which I hope will also help safety.