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.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to Oxfordshire County Council to develop and build the proposed Greenway route between Thame and Haddenham and Thame Parkway Station.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Spending Review in June 2025, which covers multiple years from 2026/27 onwards, allocated £616 million for Active Travel England to support local authorities to build and maintain walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure including dedicated cycling routes. This comes on top of £222.5 million announced in February 2025 for local authorities over 2024/25-25/26.
Active Travel funding supports local transport authorities with developing and constructing walking, wheeling and cycling facilities. Oxfordshire County Council has received £2,650,279 from the Consolidated Active travel fund 2025/6. However, it is up to local authorities to determine and put forward their local active travel infrastructure priorities for funding. As yet, ATE has not been asked to provide design assurance for this potential scheme.
ATE work closely with local authorities to ensure walking, wheeling and cycling routes are safe and accessible. ATE regularly provide design assurance services to local authorities who are planning and designing improvements to new or existing active travel facilities.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of requiring cyclists to wear a high visibility jacket when riding on the road.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Rule 59 of The Highway Code recommends cyclists should wear light-coloured or fluorescent clothing to help other road users to see them in daylight and poor light, with reflective clothing and/or accessories in the dark.
The Department considered making Rule 59 a requirement, rather than a recommendation as part of a comprehensive cycling and walking safety review in 2018. This concluded that the cost of introducing such a system would far outweigh the benefits. Restricting people’s ability to cycle in this way would mean that many would likely choose other modes of transport instead, with negative impacts for congestion, pollution and health.
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 21 November 2025 to Question 93455, whether it ceased to be her department's policy that 50% of journeys in towns and cities should be walked or cycled by 2030 when the second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy ended in March 2025.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Decisions on future active travel targets will be confirmed in the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy when it is published next year.
Asked by: Dan Aldridge (Labour - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for local pedestrian safety of encouraging local authorities to prioritise the creation and connectivity of active travel routes in ways that could affect their eligibility for Active Travel funding.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Active Travel England (ATE) undertakes assurance of new or upgraded schemes in close collaboration with local authorities. Submitted scheme designs are put through a series of checks using the ATE scheme review tools, last published in February 2024.
These tools include an assessment of the critical safety issues for walking, wheeling and cycling to support local authorities over scheme quality. Additional guidance on how to work with the safety issues was published in November 2025.
Eleven of the sixteen critical safety issues relate to walking and cover examples such as conflict at junctions, trip hazards, the standard and positioning of crossings and the condition of the footway. Tool outputs for completed schemes are considered as part of authority active travel capability ratings, which in turn help to determine future funding impacts.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the take up of cycling proficiency programmes in schools in (a) England (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Oldham.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Bikeability programme is a key part of the Government’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy. The programme delivers a range of cycle training activities aimed at giving children the skills and confidence to cycle on the road, and is mostly delivered through schools.
Across England (outside London), Bikeability level 2 cycle training (on road) was delivered to 54% of year 6 children in 2025/6. In Greater Manchester it was 57% and in Oldham 39% (however this is a significant increase on 20% the previous year).
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to set targets for the key performance indicators set out in the consultation on the third cycling and walking investment strategy, published on 3 November.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
On the 3rd November the Government launched a consultation to develop the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3). The consultation is seeking the views of stakeholders on national vision, statutory objectives, and underlying performance indicators.
Details will be provided when the strategy is published next year.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions have taken place with highway authorities in England on the potential impact of yellow box enforcement on congestion and pollution on the road network.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
No such discussions have been held with highway authorities. Primary legislation requires local authorities with designated powers to have regard to the Secretary of State's statutory guidance on moving traffic enforcement, which includes box junction markings. This guidance includes measures to reduce congestion, enabling walking and cycling, reduce rat-running, create more pleasant places to live and work in and improve road safety.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the third cycling and walking investment strategy, published on 3 November, what is their target reduction in the rate of cyclists and pedestrians killed and seriously injured.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The consultation on the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, is seeking the views of stakeholders on a national vision, statutory objectives and underlying performance indicators. The shape of the final strategy, intended to be published next year including targets, will be informed by the responses to the consultation.
The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies. We intend to publish the Strategy this year.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to measure the key performance indicators in the third cycling and walking investment strategy, specifically for women and girls.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The consultation on the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, is seeking the views of stakeholders on a national vision, statutory objectives and underlying performance indicators. The shape of the final strategy, intended to be published next year including key performance indicators, will be informed by the responses to the consultation.
The Government is committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade through prevention and overhauling society’s response to these crimes. As part of this, we are working closely with the Home Office on their cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which is due to be published later this year.