Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to address the Disability Transport Gap, as described in the December 2023 report entitled Are we there yet, from Transport for All.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to work closely with disabled people and representative organisations, like Transport for All, to ensure their voices are heard, that the challenges are understood and that we are actively working together to drive the change to make transport and travel increasingly accessible and barrier-free.
We recognise the challenges and issues identified in Transport for All’s report both in terms of transport-mode specific issues as well as the cross-cutting themes of financial burden, information provision and inability to take up green transport options due to accessibility barriers.
Collectively, the Department is committed to a transport network that puts disabled passengers at its heart, removing barriers and promoting opportunity. Recent measures to deliver this include improving accessibility and personal safety at bus stops and stations through the Bus Services Act, publishing the Aviation Accessibility Task and Finish Group’s recommendations, and launching the Rail Accessibility Roadmap.
To specifically drive strategic and legislative change, accessibility will be a core theme of the forthcoming Integrated National Transport Strategy. We will also shortly be publishing an Accessible Transport Vision to set out the key priorities for accessible travel for this Government. Later this year, we will publish an Accessible Travel Charter. The Charter will set clear expectations for transport providers to implement accessibility best practice - not as another layer of regulation, but as a clear articulation of the commitments for accessible transport that every operator should meet.
The department is also continuing its work to build accessibility into electric vehicle charging points and the future provision of connected and autonomous vehicles. We will also be publishing the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy and are consulting upon changes to mobility device legislation recognising the importance of personal mobility specifically and as part of the end-to end journeys that disabled people want and need to make.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, what plans they have to carry out an awareness campaign of the Highway Code for cyclists, in light of the sentencing on 11 March of an e-bike rider following the death of a pedestrian.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Like other road users, cyclists are required to comply with road traffic law in the interest of their own safety and that of other road users. Cycling on the pavement and on footpaths is an offence under Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835, other than in designated areas such as on bridleways and shared use routes.
Rule 64 of The Highway Code states that you must not cycle on a pavement.
As set out in the Road Safety Strategy published on 7 January, more work is needed to raise overall awareness of the Highway Code. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2026 to Question 116791, whether engagement with organisations representing disabled people in relation to the guidance entitled Floating Bus Stops: Provision and Design was undertaken by (a) officials in her Department, (b) Active Travel England and (c) an external organisation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The statutory guidance on the provision and design of floating bus stops is a joint publication between the Department and Active Travel England (ATE). Stakeholder engagement on the development of the guidance was undertaken by officials from both organisations. As part of this process, an external body Transport for All was commissioned to run workshops with a range of disability and road user groups and individuals with lived experience of disability to ensure the recommendations reflect their needs. The groups represented included:
The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee were consulted. The Department and ATE also sought feedback from the Urban Transport Group, Living Streets, Guide Dogs, RNIB, Transport for London, and ATE’s Technical Oversight and Advisory Group.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2026 to Question 116791, which organisations representing disabled people were engaged in relation to the guidance entitled Floating Bus Stops: Provision and Design; on what dates that engagement began and concluded; and what form that engagement took.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Three workshops were held on the floating bus stop guidance, one in-person (17 November 2025) and two online (18 and 24 November 2025). All three workshops were facilitated by Transport for All and attended by officials from the Department and ATE. They consisted of facilitated discussions about the draft guidance.
The groups attending and representing the interests of disabled people were Guide Dogs, Mencap, Motability Foundation, Transport for All and Wheels for Wellbeing. Age UK represented issues affecting older people, including mobility and accessibility. Seventeen disabled people with lived experience attended, representing eight different impairment types and using 12 types of mobility aids. Other groups represented included the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling and Walking, Bikeability Trust, Campaign for Better Transport, Confederation of Passenger Transport, Cycling UK, Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, Policy Connect, and Walk Wheel Cycle Trust.
Officials from the department held meetings online to discuss the guidance with representatives from the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) on 9 June 2025 and 19 January 2026, with Guide Dogs on 17 October 2025, and with Living Streets on 22 October 2025.
All of the above organisations and the Royal National Institute of Blind People, were asked to comment on the draft guidance, circulated via email, from 26 November to 2 December 2025. The department and ATE also sought feedback from the Urban Transport Group, Transport for London, and ATE’s Technical Oversight and Advisory Group.
A full list of those involved in the consultation process is included in the guidance: www.gov.uk/government/publications/floating-bus-stops-provision-and-design/floating-bus-stops-provision-and-design#consultation-requirements.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2026 to Question 116553 on the Highway Code, what evidential basis was used when Rule H1 was drafted to include motorcycles.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The previous Government updated the Highway Code in 2022 to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and riding horses including the introduction of a hierarchy of road users.
I understand that the Department for Transport worked with an expert stakeholder group representing different users of the road and conducted a 12-week formal consultation.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, What assessment she has made of the potential impact of bicycle theft and violent robbery on the level of cycling and active travel.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Fear of having a bike stolen can be a serious deterrent to those who might want to take up cycling.
Active Travel England is providing funding for local authorities to introduce secure cycle parking. In addition, the British Transport Police are tackling cycle theft at rail stations by both uniformed patrols and use of plain clothes officers at hotspot locations.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to raise awareness of equestrian safety among new and existing drivers.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Highway Code was updated in 2022 to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and riding horses including the introduction of a hierarchy of road users.
Following these updates the Department ran large-scale THINK! advertising campaigns to raise awareness of the changes.
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 published on 7 January, more work is needed to continue embedding these changes and overall awareness of the Highway Code. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her department has made of the potential merits of implementing clear rules on the speed and distance vehicles must maintain when passing horse riders.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Highway Code was updated in 2022 to include changes to improve safety for people walking, cycling and riding horses, including guidance on safe passing distances and speeds and the introduction of a hierarchy of road users.
The advice on safe passing distances in Rule 163, says that motorists should “pass horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles at speeds under 10mph and allow at least 2 metres of space”.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve the safety of horse riders and horses on public roads.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Highway Code was updated in 2022 to improve the safety of all road users, particularly the most vulnerable. Key changes included the introduction of a Hierarchy of Road Users, which ensures that those who do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat that they pose to others, along with the strengthening of guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking horse-riders.
Following these updates, 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 THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
However, as set out in the Road Safety Strategy published on 7 January, more work is needed to continue embedding these changes and overall awareness of the Highway Code. We are considering options in this area, and further details will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 26 February (HL14639), how many fixed penalty notices have been issued to cyclists and scooter riders for (1) jumping red lights, and (2) riding on pavements, in England in the past 12 months; and whether they have plans to introduce legislation to reduce those practices.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect or hold specific data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued to cyclists or scooter riders.
The Home Office’s annual publication Police Powers and Procedures: Roads Policing - the most recent edition of which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-roads-policing-to-december-2023 - provides statistics on fixed penalty notices and other outcomes for motoring offences, all of which apply exclusively to motor-vehicle drivers. Cyclists are therefore excluded from the scope of the published figures.
It is an offence for a cyclist to jump a red light and to cycle on a pavement, and the Government is determined to go further to make our streets safer for pedestrians by introducing new cycling offences through the Crime and Policing Bill, which will tackle instances where victims have been killed or seriously injured by irresponsible cyclists, ensuring parity of enforcement powers against dangerous behaviour on our roads, for all road users.
The Crime and Policing Bill will also give police greater powers to clamp down on anti-social behaviour involving e-scooters, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizure. This will allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.