Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of checks undertaken by local authorities of road bridges.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department encourages adoption of an effective, integrated asset management approach to highway infrastructure including bridges through the UKRLG Code of Practice 'Well-managed highway infrastructure'.
There is a duty placed on highway authorities, by Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 (as amended) to maintain the highways network in their area, including the road bridges that they are responsible for. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess and keep records of which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department holds on the number of cycle training sessions local authorities have provided in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Data on the numbers of schoolchildren who have taken part each year in Bikeability training courses in each local highway authority area in England is available via the Bikeability Trust’s website at https://bikeability.org.uk/support/publications/. The total number of children trained across England rose from around 134,000 in 2009/10 to around 420,000 in 2019/20. The Department is providing an unprecedented £18 million of funding for the Bikeability programme in 2021/22 to allow even more training to be delivered.
The Department does not hold data on the number of adult cycling training sessions delivered in each local authority area each year, but is providing around £30 million of revenue funding in the current financial year to local authorities in England to enable them to deliver a wide range of programmes including adult cycle training courses.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the availability of local authority-provided community transport schemes.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government believes that community transport operators provide vital services which both encourage growth and reduce isolation by linking people with their communities.
Local transport authorities (LTAs) understand their communities best and so it is for them to determine their local community's needs. They have a power to fund services which they deem to be socially necessary.
To benefit from the transformational funding in England’s National Bus Strategy, LTAs are expected to continue working together with operators towards agreeing ambitious Bus Services Improvement Plans (BSIPs) by 31 October. The Government expects LTAs to work closely and in a spirit of co-operation with community transport bodies to ensure that BSIPs meet the needs of local communities.
£43 million of Bus Service Operators Grant is committed to LTAs annually so that they can subsidise socially necessary bus services, which includes community transport.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding the National Roads Fund will provide for local authority road upgrades between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department’s forecast expenditure in 2020/21 on Major Road Network and Large Local Major schemes is £116m. £310m has been budgeted in 2021/22. The budgets for future years are subject to the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many local authorities have submitted Local Pinch Point Fund expressions of interest; and for what projects.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In November 2020, the Chancellor announced the Levelling Up fund that will support town centre and high street regeneration, local transport projects, and cultural and heritage assets. The prospectus and guidance for local authorities applying to the Fund was announced at Budget 2021.
This Fund has superseded smaller funding streams such as the Local Pinch Point Fund. Local authorities have been encouraged to consider prioritising submitting their pinch point projects for the first round of the Fund.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many bids to funds for transport infrastructure improvements offered by his Department have Ministers directed councils to submit as bids to the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Levelling Up Fund announced at the spending review will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities, including investing in local transport schemes. Further details on how the Fund will operate will be published in the prospectus shortly – including who can bid, the types of projects eligible for funding, and the criteria for assessing proposals.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department holds data on the level of profits made by bus operating companies in each year from 2010.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department does not hold data on the level of profits made by bus operating companies.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will implement a safe routes to school programme to promote cycling and walking to and from school.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department supports safe cycling and walking to school and has committed £50 million to the Bikeability cycle training programme and over £6m of funding for a range of outreach programmes including Walk to School between 2016/17 and 2019/20.
Decisions on future funding for cycling and walking programmes will be made in the context of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to create safer cycling routes to schools.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is investing around £2 billion in cycling and walking over this Parliament, which is enabling local authorities across England to fund a large number of cycling and walking schemes, including safer routes to schools. The Department for Transport is also providing £50 million for the Bikeability programme over the same period, which is helping to provide hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren each year with the skills they need to cycle safely on the road.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to promote cycling among school pupils.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport has allocated £12.8 million to the Bikeability cycle training programme for the year 2019/20 and delivered more than 400,000 training places to schoolchildren in 2017/18. The programme has recently secured a sponsorship deal with Halfords which has generated an additional £1 million for training places and free bike safety checks for every child participating in Bikeability.