As many as one in four road accidents are caused by drivers either speaking or texting on their mobiles. What work is being done to step up prosecutions for this very dangerous and life-threatening activity?

The Home Office has not undertaken any recent research into the relationship between levels of street lighting and the incidence of crimes.

Last year Oxfordshire county council repaired 5,662 potholes, and so far this year it has repaired 4,719, at a cost of about £5 million. However, the way we repair potholes has not changed much over the years, so may I ask my hon. Friend what research is being done to improve the way we repair roads for the 21st century?

The Secretary of State took his life into his hands in my constituency over the summer by getting on his bike, and saw at first hand the risks of the pothole crisis across north Yorkshire. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the issue of potholes, because for rural areas it is the No. 1 transport issue?

Cyclists and drivers in Wirral are infuriated by the quality of our roads and the number of potholes we have. The council has suffered ferocious cuts from the Government, so can the Minister tell me what conversations he has had with leaders of local authorities about how they can ensure that our roads are of a decent standard, given the Chancellor’s austerity for local government?

What steps he is taking to tackle potholes on UK roads.

The Department for Transport is providing more than £18 billion for highway maintenance for both the strategic and local road network between 2011 and 2021. That funding will help address the issue of potholes, which we know can cause problems for all highway users, including cyclists.

The Department for Transport is providing more than £18 billion for highway maintenance for both the strategic and local road network between 2011 and 2021. That funding will help address the issue of potholes, which we know can cause problems for all highway users, including cyclists.

The respective local highway authorities are responsible for the maintenance of the local road network in (a) Rossendale and Darwen Constituency and (b) the North West.

The Department for Transport is providing over £3.4 billion to local highway authorities in England between 2011 and 2015. This includes additional funding of £200 million allocated to authorities in March 2011 in recognition of the damage caused by the severe winter of 2010-11 and a further £215 million being allocated over the financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15 as announced in December 2012. The June 2013 spending review announcement commits just under £6 billion to local highway authorities in England from 2015-16 to 2020-21.

Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding allocated by the Department for Communities and Local Government through the revenue support grant for maintaining their local highways. Neither capital nor revenue highways maintenance funding is ring-fenced

and it is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services they provide.

The Department for Transport is also providing £6 million for the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme. As part of this programme a review was undertaken in respect of potholes and final report was published in April 2012. A follow-up report was recently published and both reports can be found at the following web link:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/hmep/pothole/index.php

In addition the Highways Agency responsible for the management of the motorway and strategic trunk road network work closely with their maintenance contractors to ensure a safe and even road surface for all road users based on a risk assessment process.

The Department for Transport does not allocate highways maintenance funding to local highway authorities based on population but on likely need. The formula, developed and agreed with local authorities, distributes funding on the basis of road length, bridges needing repair, and lighting stock. The Department believes that this is a fair way of allocating funding—as those authorities with larger highway networks to maintain receive a higher proportion of the available funding.

Further details on the methodology can be found via the following weblink:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120606202955/http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/local-transport-capital-block-funding/maintenance-block-formula-explanatory-note.pdf

It is for the local highway authority, in this case Shropshire Council, to assess the need for, and feasibility of, the completion of the ring road and to take forward any subsequent proposals.

It is for the local highway authority, in this case Shropshire Council, to assess the need for, and feasibility of, the completion of the ring road and to take forward any subsequent proposals.

It is for the local highway authority, in this case Shropshire Council, to assess the need for, and feasibility of, the completion of the ring road and to take forward any subsequent proposals.

Dorset County Council submitted a bid for the A338 Bournemouth Spur Road to the Department for Transport requesting funding from the Local Pinch Point Fund. The Fund was very oversubscribed with the Department for Transport receiving over 170 bids requesting funding is excess of £400 million.

The Department announced 72 successful schemes, which together offered the best value for the taxpayer. I am afraid the Dorset bid was unsuccessful on this occasion.

This does not preclude Dorset County Council seeking funding from alternative sources, for example, the Single

Local Growth Fund. I would recommend they liaise closely with their Local Transport Body and Local Enterprise Partnership on this matter.

The Department for Transport provides funding to local authorities in England (outside London) through the highways maintenance transport capital block grant. This grant is allocated to each authority using section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003. The funding is allocated by formula and an explanatory note setting out this is available from the Department for Transport website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-transport-capital-block-funding

I have placed in the House library a table setting out how much each local highway authority has been allocated for highways maintenance funding in the last three years.

Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding, allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant for maintaining their local highways. Neither revenue nor capital highways maintenance block funding is ring-fenced and it is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services that they provide.

The Department is funding local highways maintenance projects in Portsmouth, Birmingham, Sheffield, Isle of Wight and the London borough of Hounslow through the private finance initiative. I have placed a table in the House Library setting out the funding we have allocated to these authorities in each of the last three years.

In addition the Department has also funded specific larger maintenance schemes costing more than £5 million from its local major funding programme.

The funding for road maintenance in London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are matters for the respective administrations.

Ministers and officials in the Department for Transport regularly discuss a variety of matters with their opposite numbers at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, including the scope for emissions reductions from the transport sector.

The Government supports the transfer of freight from road to rail, where it is practical, economic and environmentally sustainable to do so. However, the choice of mode is ultimately a commercial matter for the logistics sector.

The Government supports the shift of freight from road to rail primarily through the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme. This assists companies with the operating costs of transporting freight by rail, where this is more expensive than road and where there are environmental benefits. As a result of these grants, reductions in carbon emissions of approximately 120,000 tonnes were achieved in 2012-13 from traffic moving from road to rail.

Additionally, the Government has announced a major programme of investment in the rail industry that will promote the development of rail freight. In particular, it has announced electrification and gauge enhancement projects between Southampton, the East and West Midlands and Yorkshire; schemes at Ely, Leicester and Peterborough to create additional freight capacity on the strategic route between Felixstowe and Nuneaton; a further £230 million of funding ring-fenced for the development

of the Strategic Freight Network in Great Britain; and most recently, a £115 million project (co-funded with Transport for London) to electrify the line between Gospel Oak and Barking that will include the connections to the Port of Tilbury and the new port at London Gateway.

While no specific assessment has been made of the potential benefits of an improved road network for small businesses in (a) the West Midlands, (b) Coventry and (c) Coventry South, the Department for Transport is investing in the West Midlands road network to support economic growth and which will see benefits to business, including those small and medium sized enterprises.

Highway schemes on the strategic and local road network which the Department is helping to fund include schemes to tackle pinch points, major improvement schemes and smaller schemes, as well as providing funding for highways maintenance.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 19 June 2013, Official Report, column 678W.

The Department for Transport is providing over £3 billion in capital funding to local highway authorities in England, outside London, for highways maintenance between 2010 and 2015.

The Department has also provided additional highways maintenance funding to local highway authorities in 2009 and in 2011. I have placed a table in the House Library on how much additional money was made available to (a) each local authority in the UK and (b) Cornwall Council for road repairs in 2009 and in 2011. The Government also announced a further £215 million for highways maintenance to be allocated over the next two financial years (2013-14 and 2014-15) in December 2012. Further information, including the share of the funding Cornwall County Council is being allocated can be found at the following weblink:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/37009/additional-highways-maintenance-funding-allocations.pdf

Local authorities are also able to use revenue funding, allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant for maintaining their local highways. Neither revenue or capital highways maintenance block funding is ring-fenced and it is for local highway authorities to decide upon their spending priorities across the whole range of services that they provide.

The Department for Transport is also supporting the highways maintenance sector including local highway authorities by providing £6 million for the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme. Further information including the work that the Programme is delivering is available at the following weblink:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/hmep/