Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the clarity of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 relating to publicly accessible land.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department acknowledges that the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023 contains a number of provisions relevant to the planning, management and use of land, and considers these to be clear in their intended scope and application. Section 245 strengthens the statutory duty on relevant authorities in National Parks and National Landscapes by requiring them to seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing natural beauty when exercising their functions. The Act also supports the safeguarding and integration of walking and cycling networks through the planning system, building on existing policy in the National Planning Policy Framework.
More broadly, the Government has announced, as part of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, a commitment to publish an Access to Nature Green Paper to consult on proposals to increase access and engagement with nature. The Green Paper will test a range of policy options and invite views from stakeholders and the public, helping us to gather evidence and test approaches before decisions are made. This consultation will play an important role in shaping the development of future policy in this area.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to raise awareness about new Highway Code rules.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Following updates to the Highway Code in 2022, the department ran large-scale THINK! advertising campaigns to raise awareness of the changes.
Via the THINK! campaign, we are also running year-round radio filler adverts encouraging compliance with the guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. We will also continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
However, as set out in the road safety strategy, more work is needed to continue embedding these changes. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to promote active and healthy lifestyles among pensioners, including through access to affordable physical activity and active travel.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that reducing physical inactivity and promoting active, healthy lifestyles in people of all ages, including among pensioners, is important in helping people live longer, healthier lives, and is a key part of the Department’s shift from treatment to prevention.
The NHS Better Health Campaign promotes ways for people of all ages to move more, and signposts to digital support like the NHS Active 10 walking and NHS Couch to 5k app.
The Department supports the National Health Service, together with local authorities, to provide a range of community and social prescribing approaches to support older people, such as walking groups and aquatic/swimming classes.
The Government is promoting active and healthy lifestyles among pensioners through investment in walking and cycling infrastructure and community-based programmes that make active travel safer and more accessible for older adults, and has recently closed its consultation on the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, due to be published next year.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support modal shift to lower emissions from the transport sector.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is supporting people to make more sustainable travel choices by improving public transport services and active travel infrastructure deployment.
The Bus Services Act 2025 puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of communities. The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services by confirming over £3 billion from 2026/27 over the rest of the spending review period to support local leaders and bus operators across the country to improve bus services for millions of passengers.
For active travel, we are allocating £626 million up to 2030 for local authorities to deliver walking and cycling schemes, and we will be publishing the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in the spring.
To incentivise the shift of freight away from more polluting modes, the Mode Shift Revenue Support grant continues to encourage the movement of freight by rail or inland waterway instead of road, where journeys by rail or inland waterway would otherwise be more expensive.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken for the publication of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy 3 on local authorities’ ability to plan and deliver active travel schemes; and whether the final Strategy will include measurable objectives to support effective delivery and accountability.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Decisions on future active travel objectives will be confirmed in the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy when it is published in the spring. The Strategy, coupled with over £900m of investment, will provide long term certainty for local authorities to plan and deliver local networks with their communities.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has considered offering incentives to employers to introduce more walking or cycling to work schemes.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Cycle to Work Scheme has helped millions of people choose a healthier, greener way to travel while boosting local economies and supporting jobs. The scheme provides a range of savings and other benefits to employers from their employees using the scheme within the rules set by HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that schools have an active travel plan to increase the number of children who walk or cycle to school (including those who walk the last half-mile).
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Education Act 1996 places a duty on local authorities to promote sustainable travel on journeys to and from places of education in their area. Sustainable travel in this context is that which improves the physical wellbeing of users, the environmental wellbeing of the area, or both.
On 12 December, Active Travel England announced £626 million of funding for local authorities from 2026/27 to 2029/30 to deliver walking, wheeling and cycling schemes. This will enable more children to walk and cycle to school. It is in addition to almost £300 million funding for active travel in 2024/25 and 2025/26 announced in February. This includes £30 million to provide Bikeability cycle training to children and £8.5 million for Cycling UK, Living Streets and Modeshift to deliver walking, wheeling and cycling initiatives in schools and communities. The Modeshift STARS Education scheme supports schools and local authorities to develop and monitor school travel plans.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of regional variations in the level of public transport provision on (a) the number of people who rely on cars and (b) levels of rural poverty.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government knows how important reliable public transport services are in enabling people to stay connected and access education, work and vital services across the country. We also know that local bus services can be a lifeline in rural areas and can be the only means for communities to stay connected.
The Government is taking ambitious steps to improve local bus services across the country, including introducing the Bus Services Act 2025 which puts passenger needs, reliable services and local accountability at the heart of local bus services by putting the power back in the hands of local leaders right across England.
We also recently confirmed long-term investment of over £3 billion from 2026/27 to support local leaders and bus operators across the country to improve bus services for millions of passengers. This includes multi-year allocations for local authorities under the Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG) totalling nearly £700 million per year, ending the short-term approach to bus funding and giving councils the certainty they need to plan ahead to improve services for local communities. LABG allocations have been calculated using a fair and transparent approach that considers population size, levels of deprivation, the extent of existing bus services, and rurality.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority will be allocated £133.5 million under the LABG from 2026/27 to 2028/29. This is in addition to the £46.8 million they are already receiving under the LABG this financial year.
The Department for Transport has developed and published a Connectivity Tool to measure people’s ability to get where they want and need to go, using walking, cycling and public transport to reach jobs, shops, schools, healthcare and other essential services in any location in England and Wales. The Connectivity Tool combines transport and land use data to generate a national measure of connectivity and provides new insights to those developing new transport schemes or planning for growth to more easily understand how new transport infrastructure can impact an area’s connectivity.
As announced in the Child Poverty Strategy, published on 5 December 2025, the Government will also develop a transport poverty tool, which will aim to capture where poor transport connectivity and affordability limits people’s access to employment and essential services.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to prioritise the (a) voices and (b) needs of disabled people in the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The consultation on the development of the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy closed on 15 December 2025. It outlines that by 2035, this Government wants walking, wheeling and cycling to be a safe, easy and accessible option for everyone. The Department has engaged a number of disability rights organisations during the consultation including the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and held a dedicated workshop on disability and the Strategy on 6 November 2025.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding is available to increase options for active travel involving schools in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 10 December, the Department announced over £626 million of funding to support active travel across England, including walking and cycling to schools. Of this funding, Shropshire Unitary Authority, of which South Shropshire is a part, has been allocated £2,004,847 over 2026/27 to 2029/30.
In addition, Active Travel England provided £191,121 to support Bikeability cycle training in Shropshire over 2024/25, with a similar level expected for 2025/26. The Bikeability programme delivers a range of cycle training activities aimed at giving school children the skills and confidence to cycle on the road. Future funding for Bikeability will be announced in early 2026.