Lilian Greenwood

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mrs Hobhouse. I congratulate the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) on securing this debate and on his compelling arguments for more active travel and for improving road safety. We heard from 23 hon. Members—probably more, if we include the recent interventions—and I value their contributions to the debate. I cannot possibly answer all the issues raised, but I welcome the support for further action on these issues. I am responding as the Minister responsible for road safety. I share the hon. Gentleman’s ambitions for active travel. Whether it is walking, wheeling or cycling, it is positive to see more of it. I am sure we have all seen how much quieter the roads are during the school holidays. That is a visible reminder of how many children are being driven to school and how much less congestion there could be if more people felt able to walk or cycle their children to school—or to let their children walk or cycle to school themselves, as perhaps some of us did when we were young. Transport is at the heart of our mission-driven Government, and active travel is one of the strongest interventions that we can make to boost the health of the nation. Building safe, accessible and high-quality active travel infrastructure gives people the choice to walk and cycle. It can also improve the safety of our roads, reduce the number of collisions and, very importantly, cut the number of people who are killed and seriously injured. I assure hon. Members that we are keen to support local authorities to develop the infrastructure that works for their local area, whether that is introducing lower speed limits, segregated infrastructure or improved or new crossings, as a number of Members mentioned.