Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve road safety around schools and (b) support teachers, parents and students to take up active travel and walk, cycle or scoot modes of travel to school.

In Summer 2020 the Prime Minister launched ambitious plans to boost walking and cycling in England, with a vision that half of all journeys in towns and cities are cycled or walked by 2030. This includes a £2 billion package of funding for active travel over 5 years. Over £200 million has been made available to local authorities, via the Active Travel Fund, to deliver safe and direct cycling and walking measures in their areas, many of which will enable more walking and cycling to school and improve road safety around schools.

The Prime Minister’s Cycling and Walking Plan (Gear Change) published in July 2020 included a range of commitments to boost the amount of walking and cycling to school including increasing the number of school streets and ensuring that every adult and child who wants it can be trained how to cycle safely. The Department is also providing £2.1 million this financial year to enable the charity Living Streets to continue to deliver its successful Walk to School Outreach programme in more than 1,000 primary schools across England encouraging thousands more children to walk to school.