Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the availability of cycling infrastructure on employment levels.

Investment in cycling is crucial to supporting the economy, with recent evidence indicating that 3.6%, or over a million people, usually cycle to work and contributes about £5.4 billion to the British economy annually, with £4.1 billion resulting from reductions in mortality, pollution and congestion. The average benefit-cost ratio for Active Travel Fund 4 estimated that for every £1 of investment in active travel infrastructure schemes, there would be a return £2.40 of economic, social, and environmental benefits.

Building on this evidence, Active Travel England is delivering a national active travel evaluation that will seek to include a proportionate assessment of the impact of active travel investment on employment.