Enforcement of road traffic law is an operational matter for individual Chief Officers of police in conjunction with local policing plans. We will continue to support the police to ensure they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legisaltion including those relating to electric scooters.

The Foreign Office has done everything it properly can to clear the path so that justice can be done for the family of Harry Dunn in this tragic case.

If he will co-operate with any independent inquiry into the death of Harry Dunn.

The right hon. Gentleman seems to be slightly confused about the process. A criminal investigation is being conducted by Northamptonshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service. There is no question of any extradition process, let alone of what any Government might do about it, until the CPS has taken its charging decision.

From the Foreign Office’s point of view, this is a deeply tragic case. We have expressed our disappointment and called for a review of the immunity question. It should be waived, and we have cleared, as best and as properly as we can, all obstacles to justice being done. It is now properly a matter for the police and the CPS, including in relation to any extradition matters that follow.

I start by congratulating you, Mr Speaker, on your election. I know that you will want to defend the rights of this House against any rogue Executive.

I extend my deepest sympathies to Harry Dunn’s family. Are the Government exploring routes to extradite the driver? Do they think they are likely to be successful, given that President Trump’s notes, which were caught on camera, appear to confirm that she will never return?

Like the right hon. Lady, we feel a huge amount of sympathy for the family, who are very distraught. We are doing everything we can to clear the path to an investigation. I do not know the answer to her question, but I gently say to her that on all these matters, particularly on something so sensitive, we should all proceed and talk about it responsibly.

The family and friends of Harry Dunn have been let down in the most appalling way, not just by the lack of justice for their son but by the complete lack of answers from the Government to questions that they and we have raised. May I therefore ask the Secretary of State one more simple question that any mourning family would want answered? Can he tell me how long Harry had to wait between being knocked off his motorbike and the arrival of an ambulance?

The Government has already committed to holding a public consultation on options for the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway, to which respondents will be able to offer comment on the overarching case for the scheme. Highways England has been preparing for such a consultation.

We are not able currently to announce any updates on the project or proceed with a public consultation on the project given the imminent General Election purdah period.

Highways England has a £675 million designated fund budget covering the period April 2015 to March 2020. The remaining £225m of the £900m commitment is for 2020/21 and will be superseded by the first year of the second Road Investment Strategy. As of the end of September 2019, half the way through the 2019/20 financial year, Highways England had invested £460.2 million of these funds.

This investment has been delivered across the five designated funds as follows:

Spend has increased year on year as Highways England has developed the maturity of the programme through Road Period 1. Highways England is focussed on delivering the remaining £214.8 million spend on interventions that deliver the greatest benefits to our road users and local communities and it has developed an in-year programme capable of delivering the remaining budgets across the Environment, CSI, Innovation and Growth & Housing fund.

Highways England is already starting to see the positive impact of the Designated Funds programme and its spend to date has contributed to the following successes:

• Facilitating safe movement for cyclists, walkers and other vulnerable road users through delivering 102 cycling schemes, and supporting construction of 114 new and 220 upgraded crossings.

• Completion of over 90 safety schemes to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the network.

• 665 Noise Important Areas mitigated to reduce the impact of noise on residents living locally to its roads.

• Growth and Housing projects expect to provide up to 45,000 homes and 44,000 jobs.

The draft Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2) published in October 2018 sets out Government’s objectives for the second Road Period from 2020-21 to 2024-25. These build on the progress made in the first Road Investment Strategy (RIS1).

The RIS2 performance specification is expected to be split into six outcome areas. Under each of these outcome areas we will require Highways England to report on a range of performance indicators and activities to support the delivery of each outcome. The outcome areas of most relevance to cyclists will be improving safety for all, and meeting the needs of all road users.

The metrics and associated targets for each outcome area will be confirmed shortly in the final RIS2 document.

The Department for Transport and Highways England have undertaken an extensive engagement exercise with external stakeholders in developing the performance specification for the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2). This has included walking, cycling and horse riding groups, as well as organisations representing the safety interests of all road users. In addition, Transport Focus has formed part of the formal governance of RIS2 in its role as the watchdog representing user interests on the Strategic Road Network.

The performance specification will be confirmed shortly in the final RIS2 document.

Through the Road Investment Strategy (RIS), Highways England is investing £675 million to improve the environmental, social and economic impacts of the Strategic Road Network, with designated funds across five areas: environmental; cycling, safety and integration; air quality; growth and housing; and innovation.

In April 2017 Highways England published its Sustainable Development and Environment Strategies, setting out its vision for ensuring its work supports society and the wider national interest, as well as both minimising environmental impact, and improving it where possible.

Some examples of activity in 2018-19 include the delivery of 300 noise mitigation measures towards its 5-year target of 1150, 59 more electric vehicle charge points to meet its commitment of 95% coverage by the end of 2019-20, and a contribution to Leeds City Council’s scheme to implement an electric van centre of excellence.

Over the course of the RIS, Highways England is also supporting 28 schemes as part of its Growth and Housing Fund to unlock the development of housing and employment sites across the country. Highways England expect over 45,000 homes and 44,000 jobs to be developed over the lifetime of these developments.

Highways England continues to work closely with the Department for Transport, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and the Joint Air Quality Unit to support the delivery of the National Air Quality Plan, including work to meet limits on nitrogen dioxide in the shortest timescale possible.

As a statutory planning consultee, Highways England responds to local authority plans and planning applications in a way that seeks to promote sustainable transport outcomes and avoid unnecessary works to the SRN. Highways England’s Planning Guide, published earlier in the RIS, sets out how it does this, alongside its requirement to ensure that any new development can safely be accommodated around its network. Highways England regularly engages with those in the development industry to ensure its responses and approach to planning are in line with its expectations as well as those of its customers, including how it enables development through delivery of sustainable transport outcomes.

The Government's Response to the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Safety Review was published in November 2018 and sets out how it intends to achieve its ambition to make cycling and walking a safe, easy and affordable travel option. As part of the review the Department commissioned a rapid assessment to explore the evidence around the impact of cycling and walking interventions on improving cyclists and pedestrian safety and feelings of safety, and whether these can be introduced without adversely effecting participation in cycling and walking. The results of this assessment will be published in due course.

The Department is working closely with Transport for London (TfL) as it develops a business case for the scheme. Once TfL has submitted a business case, the Department will assess it and make a decision. With significant funding involved, it is not possible to provide an exact timeframe for Ministerial decisions until the business case has been received and the necessary assessment criteria have been satisfied.

The A14 scheme designers certify that the scheme design complies with the relevant mandatory standards within the Design Manual Roads & Bridges.

Where compliance is not possible, departures from standards are applied for which have to be strongly justified to be acceptable.

Highways England employs an independent project technical assurance team to oversee this process and through spot checks and audits it gives confidence that relevant standards and specifications are being adhered to.

The A428 scheme is at preliminary design stage and Highways England has undertaken a Walking, Cycling Horse-Riding Assessment and Review to identify the most frequently used cycling routes (and walking and horse-riding routes) that may be affected by the scheme to define the provisions for cyclists being proposed.

Highways England is working with local authorities and community groups to understand what is most important to the people that use these routes.

The existing A428 is being retained as a local road which, as a result of the scheme, will have less traffic on it following the opening of the new road, making it a safer and more attractive route for cyclists.

The applicability of the Government’s whiplash reforms to both minors and other protected parties was debated by both Houses during the Parliamentary passage of the Civil Liability Act 2018.

We have since received representations on this issue from the Motor Accident Solicitors Society, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Association of Consumer Support Organisations.

As the Government made clear during the parliamentary debates, we see no fundamental reason why the level of compensation to be paid to minors or other protected parties in the event of a road traffic accident minor injury claim should be different to that paid to another injured party. The Government therefore intends that the tariff of fixed damages for whiplash injuries should apply to minors and protected parties.

The Government has since considered the separate issue of whether the proposed increase in the small claims limit for road traffic accident claims from £1,000 to £5,000 should apply to minors and protected parties. We have decided that, for the time being, they should be exempted from the increase in the limit and from the need to use the new online whiplash claims system which is intended to accompany implementation of the whiplash system. This is to enable consideration of the experience of non-vulnerable claimants using the new online service under the new limit before considering the long-term approach for children and other vulnerable parties.

All minors and other protected parties in civil proceedings are subject to specific protections through Part 21 of the Civil Procedure Rules. These include the requirement to be represented by a litigation friend and for the settlement of a claim to be approved by the court. These protections are unaffected by the measures in the Civil Liability Act.

In March 2017, Highways England published its South Pennines Route Strategy, which reviewed the effectiveness of the strategic road network between East Lancashire and Yorkshire. This covered Junctions 1 to 10 of the M65. Lancashire County Council is responsible for the section of the M65 from Junction 10 at Burnley through to its end in Colne.

Priorities for improvements to the local highway network in East Lancashire were set out in the East Lancashire Highways and Transport Masterplan, produced by Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council, as local transport authorities in 2014. Local Growth Fund support has been provided to a number of schemes in this Masterplan.

In March 2019, the Department announced that Highways England would work with Transport for the North on a study looking at options for improving road links between the M65 and north and west Yorkshire. The output of this study will inform consideration of the case for future investment.