This information is not held by the Department.

I will say two things. First, on Monday we announced a further £35 million for our safer roads fund. Secondly, the hon. Gentleman’s general point simply is not right. I think I am right in saying that out of 38 comparable countries, we are fifth best in the world. We have a very good road safety record and, actually, that position is maintained. We focus on road safety in everything we do, particularly for vulnerable road users. That is at the heart of all our policymaking.

With no disrespect to the hon. Gentleman, who I like as a person, he is simply wrong. In the last year, ending June 2023, there was a decline of 9% in fatalities compared to the year ending June 2022. Look at the specific measures taken: we have toughened up the driving test, made the highway code more robust and introduced tougher criminal sentences. Those are the actions of a Government who are listening and taking action.

In January 2022, the Government updated the highway code to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and riding. The changes aimed to make a positive shift in road-user behaviour, by

making road users aware of their responsibility to use roads safely and to reduce the dangers they may pose to others. The Government’s flagship multimillion-pound road safety campaign, THINK!, also plays a crucial part in reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.

I of course share the hon. Gentleman’s concern about the deaths of anyone on the roads, but particularly of young people. I do not recognise the characterisation he has set out. Our road safety record remains one of the best in the world. [Interruption.] Well, it does. The Department spends a great deal of resource on campaigns to get people to drive more safely, and we do that when we are engineering and delivering new roads. Safety is one of the very important things that we think about as we design and roll out new road infrastructure.

The Department for Transport is developing the new Road Safety Strategic Framework (RSSF) and it is our intention, subject to wider consultation and agreement, to publish in the spring.

The Department for Transport is firmly committed to improving safety across the transport sector, and this will be a priority as it reviews the body of retained EU law.

Whilst there will be opportunities to review and amend individual pieces of retained EU law, the Department will ensure both that the regulatory landscape adheres to international obligations and upholds high standards for transport and travel safety.

As part of the current review into roads policing and traffic enforcement, the Government is listening closely to the concerns of those affected by tragic cases of death or serious injury on our roads. This helps shape Government thinking and policy going forward.

I thank the hon. Member for his question. Flexibility is important for local need, which is why local authorities are the decision makers in this area. If local people do not like what local authorities are doing, they can make a change to local priorities at the ballot box.

In 2021, road casualties showed signs of a return to pre-pandemic trends, increasing compared to 2020 when casualty numbers were low, largely as a result of periods of lockdown resulting in a reduction in road traffic. Over the second half of the year, both casualties and traffic returned to levels similar to those in 2019. Monthly changes in casualties during 2021 generally showed a similar trend to changes in motor vehicle traffic levels.

We announced in the summer of 2021 that we would devise a new Road Safety Strategic Framework which will include a new implementation plan to improve road safety. This will be published in due course.

The Government consulted from October to December 2021 on the potential to create a Road Collision Investigation Branch. The Government published its response to the consultation on 29 June, announcing our intention to create a Road Safety Investigation Branch. This Branch will operate independently of Government and the police to better understand the causes of road collisions, with the aim of reducing death and injury on our roads.

The Home Office have no plans to introduce a review into the conduct of road death investigations.

The Government consulted from October to December 2021 on the potential to create a Road Collision Investigation Branch. The Government published its response to the consultation on 29 June, announcing our intention to create a Road Safety Investigation Branch. This Branch will operate independently of Government and the police to better understand the causes of road collisions, with the aim of reducing death and injury on our roads.

The Home Office have no plans to introduce a review into the conduct of road death investigations.

The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 provides for an award of bereavement damages to certain family members which could be applied for in relation to road traffic accident fatalities. The size of the award is set by legislation and is currently £15,120.

Victims and bereaved families may be eligible to apply to the Government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (the Scheme), which exists to compensate for serious physical or mental injury attributable to being a direct victim of a crime of violence. Bereavement and other payments are also available to qualifying relatives in fatal cases. As the Scheme is publicly funded, strict eligibility criteria apply. For the purposes of eligibility, an incident involving a vehicle will amount to a crime of violence only where the vehicle was used with intent to cause injury to a person.

The threshold for deciding whether to prosecute offences relating to fatal road traffic collisions in Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cases is the same threshold that is used for all offences.

The CPS, in making decisions on whether or not a case should be prosecuted, will always apply the two-stage test set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors (the Code).

The Code is issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) under section 10 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 and gives guidance to prosecutors on the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions. It has been the subject of frequent reviews and public consultations, most recently in 2018, when the eighth edition was published.

The first stage of the two-stage test for prosecution (the evidential stage) requires the prosecutor to be satisfied that there is a realistic prospect of conviction on the evidence. The second stage (the public interest stage) requires the prosecutor to be satisfied that the prosecution is in the public interest. The case will not proceed unless both stages of the test are met.

The CPS guidance on Road Traffic - Charging assists prosecutors in charging cases involving fatal road traffic collisions. It outlines the charging standards and factors for consideration when prosecution decisions are taken.

In order to ensure consistency of approach, charging decisions in all fatal collision cases are required to be approved by a Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP), a Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor (DCCP), or a senior decision-maker nominated for the role by the CCP or DCCP.

In relation to a civil claim for personal injury, Official Injury Claim (OIC), an accessible self-service, online service, was launched in May 2021 in partnership with the Motor Insurers Bureau. This service enables those who suffer injury as a result of a road traffic accident to claim up to £5000 in damages, with or without the need for legal representation.

The service and its accompanying guidance have been carefully designed with the claimant firmly at their heart. A dedicated telephone customer support centre is also available, with trained assistants to guide users through any questions or issues they may have about the process of completing a claim. Since May 2021, around 240,000 claims have been made on the OIC service.

For claims above £5000 the existing Claims Portal should be used. Information about these reforms and the OIC service can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/whiplash-reform-programme-information-and-faq.

Automatism is a lawful defence in both civil and criminal cases and, where no agreement on liability and compensation for those injured in a road crash can be reached between a claimant and defendant, the courts will decide each case on its merits. Therefore, the Government currently has no plans to make changes in this area.

Absolutely, yes. Safety will always be of paramount importance to us.