The Department’s funding for major road projects sits within the Local Growth Fund. The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, which includes South Gloucestershire, has already been allocated £230.7m from the Local Growth Fund from 2015/16 to 2020/21 to take forward their growth priorities, including transport projects. Up to a further £1.8bn from the Local Growth Fund will be awarded competitively to LEPs later this year, with an additional £475m available for exceptionally large transport projects.

The £24m my Department is providing to North Yorkshire County Council is to part fund a scheme to maintain a large number of minor (Category 4a and 4b) roads across the County over the period 2016-2021. A map of the affected roads can be found in the Business case at: http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/lgfmaintenance

The scheme was given initial approval as part of the Local Growth Fund process in 2014 following a bid from the Council supported by the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership.

In terms of train costs and airport parking, I refer the Right Hon. Member to the answer I gave to his question on 9 February 2015, UIN 25274 http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?page=1&max=20&questiontype=AllQuestions&house=commons%2clords&uin=25274. In terms of travel by road within the UK, decisions on taxation, including fuel duty, are a matter for HM Treasury.

The Department for Transport is contributing over £6 billion to the Local Growth Fund in this parliament. This is already helping to fund over 300 road improvement schemes in Local Enterprise Partnerships’ programmes. Local Enterprise Partnerships will soon have the opportunity to make further bids to the Local Growth Fund for new projects, including a £475m element for very large major transport schemes. The Government will be providing details shortly.

a) £175 million cycling, safety and integration fund

Highways England is developing a programme of initiatives to improve the safety of the network and to also improve facilities for cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians, identifying further opportunities for improved integration with wider transport networks such as Park & Ride.

This fund supports their ambition to reduce the number of casualties on the strategic road network and encourage walking and cycling as an everyday mode of travel, as set out in the DfT Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

(b) £75 million air quality investment fund referred to in the Government's Road Investment Strategy for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

Highways England’s Delivery Plan commits them to start 10 air quality pilot studies in the first 2 years of this road investment period.

These studies are designed to identify new and innovative solutions that will be funded using the air quality designated fund, to improve air quality alongside the strategic road network and support delivery of the major improvement schemes identified in the Road Investment Strategy.

Highways England’s work in relation to air quality, and the use of the £75million air quality designated fund (2015 – 20), is in support of the Government’s National Air Quality Plan.

My Department is constantly working to maintain and improve the resilience of transport to a full range of hazards.

Network Rail are well aware of the risks from flooding and other severe weather events, and measures to improve the resilience of the network, including addressing specific concerns and recommendations arising from previous flooding events, are integral to their current 5 year programme of investment, maintenance and renewals.

Local highway authorities have a duty to maintain their network and prepare for severe weather with regards to local roads. The Government has allocated a record £6.1 billion to fund local highways maintenance between now and 2021, continuing the increase in funding that started during the last Parliament.

Highways England are responsible for operating, maintaining and improving the strategic road network, and will invest £78 million over the next 5 years on a range of measures to improve flood resilience and water quality on the network.

The Conservative Manifesto 2015 had a commitment to reduce the number of cyclists and other road users killed or injured on our roads every year. We have been working closely with road safety groups to consider what more can be done and expect to publish our Road Safety Statement shortly.

The Road Safety Statement will set out the high level plan and overarching approach to road safety that we expect to take over the rest of the Parliament, and will be followed by a series of more detailed proposals and consultations. The Department for Transport will publish a Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in 2016 which will set out our plans for investment in safer cycling and walking infrastructure.

Busy roads in rural areas will either be the responsibility of Highways England or local authorities.

Highways England have committed to provide a safer, integrated and more accessible strategic road network for cyclists and other vulnerable road users. To support this, the Government has outlined a commitment to invest £100m between 2015/16 and 2020/21 to improve provision for cyclists on the strategic road network.

On a local level, provision of cycling infrastructure is for local traffic authorities. The Department encourages them to ensure cycling is considered as part of the planning process.The Department for Transport’s Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance supports local authorities on providing cycle-safe infrastructure for cyclists.

It is also worth noting that from within the record £6 billion to be allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, from 2018/19 the plan is to change the formula used to allocate local highways maintenance capital funding so that it also takes into account footways and cycleways as well as the roads, bridges and street lighting, which it is currently based on. Once implemented, around 9% of the funding will be based on footway and cycleway lengths.

The Government remains committed to its manifesto targets to double cycling and make cycling safer.

The Government recently reaffirmed its commitment to cycling and walking, with SR2015 announcing funding support of over £300m. This includes delivering the Cycle City Ambition programme in full, and funding the Bikeability cycle training programme, which increases cycle proficiency amongst school children.

The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published in summer 2016, will explain the Government’s investment strategy for cycling and walking.

The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published in summer 2016, will set out the Government’s plans for investing in cycling and walking.

The Government recently reaffirmed its commitment to cycling and walking, with SR2015 announcing funding support ofover £300m. This includes delivering the £114m Cycle City Ambition programme in full, which includes improved cycling infrastructure on roads, and a new ‘Access’ fund for sustainable travel building on the legacy of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. In addition, the Road Investment Strategy for 2015-20 includes plans to improve 200 sections of the roads network for cyclists. All other funding streams will be considered as part of the process for developing the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

It is also worth noting that from within the record £6 billion to be allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, from 2018/19 the plan is to change the formula used to allocate local highways maintenance capital funding so that it also takes into account footways and cycleways as well as the roads, bridges and street lighting, which it is currently based on. Once implemented, around 9% of the funding will be based on footway and cycleway lengths.

SR2015 also announced an additional £250m for a potholes action fund, which will benefits both motorists and cyclists.

Roads are fundamental for the nation’s economic success. The roads investment strategy will ensure that success by providing the transport infrastructure to keep the population connected and the economy flowing. The Department for Transport has carried out analysis of the Roads Investment Strategy and this shows it to be very high value for money. The analysis is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/411417/ris-economic-analysis.pdf

Investment in the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) programme has also been assessed in line with the Department for Transport’s appraisal guidance and is expected to deliver very high value for money.

The Department for Transport has also looked at the value for money of a number of recent cycling and walking interventions and found them to offer high or very high value for money. The analysis is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycling-and-walking-the-economic-case-for-action

It is worth noting that investment in roads does not just benefit motorists but can also have benefits for cyclists. For example, the Roads Investment Strategy includes a ring-fenced fund of £100mn to 2020/21 to improve provision for cyclists travelling alongside and crossing the strategic road network. Highways England has also committed to cycle-proof all new road investments. We are also providing nearly £6bn funding for local highways road maintenance over the 6-year period to 2020/21, which will help to tackle potholes and improve local roads.

The Department for Transport (DfT) works collaboratively with Innovate UK through a range of mechanisms to support technological development and innovation in all modes of transport. DfT and Innovate UK work together to support wider government objectives to develop the nation's science and research capability to support UK economic growth. However, the Department has not made any separate assessment of Innovate UK’s contribution to the development of technologies in the transport sector. Innovate UK undertakes well established economic evaluations on the effectiveness and impact of its activities and are reported to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, as Innovate UK's departmental sponsor.

The Government has not made a general assessment of the adequacy of road and rail access to regional airports. It is for regional airports to work with their local authorities, local bus and rail companies and Local Economic Partnerships to identify opportunities to promote access to airports.

Where the scheme has a wider range of beneficiaries, the Government will consider, along with other relevant stakeholders, the need for additional public funding on a case-by-case basis.

With respect to Leeds Bradford, the Leeds Bradford International Airport Connectivity Study set out the potential benefit of a new link road and recommended further consideration of the opportunity for a rail link to be provided in the longer term. The Chancellor set out the Government’s response to the study in the 2014 Autumn Statement, in which he encouraged the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to consider how to take the recommendations forward.

Essex County Council is responsible for the maintenance of local roads in Clacton including repairing potholes. However, potholes are a menace to all road users and that is why this Government has taken action.

The Government announced in December 2014 that we are allocating just under £6 billion for councils in England to tackle potholes and improve local road conditions over the next six years. This includes allocating over £128 million, based on a needs formula, to Essex County Council.

I am aware that the leader of the County Council has recently pledged to spend £5 million of this funding on pothole repairs in the Jaywick area of the Clacton constituency over the next two years.

This funding is on top of the £4.7 billion we have provided to highway authorities for maintenance in England since 2010, which is £1billion more than was spent in the previous Parliament, including over £118 million to Essex.

Ministers have met regularly with groups representing blind and partially sighted people to discuss many issues on transport accessibility, including shared space.

In March 2015, the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer, wrote to all local authorities in England to remind them of the Department’s advice on designing shared space in Local Transport Note 1/11 ‘Shared Space’, their duties under equalities legislation and the National Federation of the Blind UK guidance note ‘Access for Blind People in Towns’. A copy of that letter was included in the Secretary of State’s response of 18 March 2015 to the Transport Select Committee’s questions on this issue.

The Government announced in December 2014 that we are allocating just under £6 billion for councils in England for local highways maintenance over the next six years for all local roads, including rural. This is in addition to the £4.7 billion we have provided to councils since 2010.

The Department is providing Devon County Council with over £220 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 based on a needs formula for maintaining the roads for which they are responsible, including rural roads in Torridge and West Devon. It is entirely for the Council to decide on how this funding is allocated locally based on sound asset management principles.

This Government is supportive of local efforts to promote growth and very aware that roads play a vital part in driving growth. Local areas are best placed to determine what local road schemes should be developed to address local problems. Funding for proposals, such as the North West Relief Road, has now been devolved to the Local Growth Fund. In July 2014 The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) secured £75.3m from the Government’s Local Growth Fund to support economic growth in the area and in January the LEP agreed an expansion to its growth deal which will see an extra £7.7m invested in the area between 2016 and 2021.

The Government announced in December 2014 that we are allocating just under £6 billion for councils in England for local highways maintenance over the next six years for all local roads, including rural. This is in addition to the £4.7 billion we have provided to councils since 2010.

The Department is providing Devon County Council with over £220 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 based on a needs formula for maintaining the roads for which they are responsible, including rural roads in Torridge and West Devon. It is entirely for the Council to decide on how this funding is allocated locally based on sound asset management principles.

Britain is a world leader in road safety, but we are always striving to improve. For example, from 2 March this year it is now an offence to drive with certain drugs in your body in excess of official limits.

And measures in the deregulation bill will remove the driver’s right to demand a blood or urine test if they fail a breathalyser test.

The Department issued revised guidance in January 2013 aimed mainly at local traffic authorities who are responsible for setting speed limits on local roads. It has also been designed to help explain to everyone why and how local speed limits are determined. This circular has been revised following full public consultation in summer 2012.

Traffic authorities set local speed limits in situations where local needs and conditions suggest a speed limit which is lower than the national speed limit. They have the flexibility to set local speed limits that are appropriate for the individual road, reflecting local needs and taking account of local considerations.

The Department does not hold information that allows the identification of foreign registered vehicles in reported road traffic accidents. However, the accident record does include information on left hand drive vehicles. The Department uses this as a proxy for foreign vehicles and recognises that there will be some UK registered vehicles that are left hand drive (for example dust carts and road sweepers) which are included in the figures.

The Department only holds information on reported personal-injury accidents on public roads (including footways) in Great Britain, which became known to the police.

i) The attached table shows the number of reported personal injury road accidents in Great Britain involving at least one heavy goods vehicle as well as the number involving at least one left hand drive heavy goods vehicle for the years 2010 to 2013.

ii) The table also shows the number of reported personal injury road accidents in Great Britain involving at least one of the shown vehicle types split by whether the vehicle was left hand drive (except for pedal cyclists and motor cyclists).

Data for 2014 will be available in June 2015.