Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24092, what steps his Department is taking to tackle regional differences in cycling funding across England and for the (a) East Midlands, (b) North East and (c) East of England.

At a local level, the provision of cycling infrastructure is for local authorities to decide. The funding is there for any local area to invest in cycling if they wish to.

At the Spending Review, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to walking and cycling. This included a new Access fund for sustainable travel and our Road Investment Strategy for 2015-20, which includes plans to improve 200 sections of the road network in England for cyclists. In addition, there is now long-term funding available for cycling from the Integrated Transport Block, Highways Maintenance block, and the Local Growth Fund.

We have also launched the Sustainable Travel Transition Year, which is a £20m revenue competition; boosting cycling and walking levels is one of the strategic objectives of this fund. Funding will be awarded competitively, and we will not apply a regional bias.