The Department made it clear to authorities that their performance with earlier tranches of active travel funding would be taken into account in allocating future funds. One council was not invited to bid this year and, for similar reasons, a number of other authorities will receive a reduction in their allocation, or if their bids are not of high enough quality, potentially no funding at all.

The second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS 2) will be published after the Government has agreed and set out its long-term spending plans for active travel at the next multi-year Spending Review. It will reflect and build on the commitments outlined in the Prime Minister’s Cycling and Walking Plan of July 2020, as well as setting out the financial resources available for cycling and walking and the other matters required by the Infrastructure Act 2015, including targets for cycling and walking.

These plans will be formally set out to Parliament in due course, as is required by the Infrastructure Act 2015.

The second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS 2) will be published after the Government has agreed and set out its long-term spending plans for active travel at the next multi-year Spending Review. It will reflect and build on the commitments outlined in the Prime Minister’s Cycling and Walking Plan of July 2020, as well as setting out the financial resources available for cycling and walking and the other matters required by the Infrastructure Act 2015, including targets for cycling and walking.

These plans will be formally set out to Parliament in due course, as is required by the Infrastructure Act 2015.

The Government will report in detail on this matter in due course once the relevant statistics for 2020 are available.

In the meantime, the Government published its first report on the progress towards meeting the objectives of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) in February 2020. The report highlights the delivery of actions, outputs and outcomes since 2016/17 with accompanying statistical analysis.

In 2019 people in England made an average of 332 walking stages, which is an 11% increase since 2015. This follows a reweighting of the data due to a methodological change to the National Travel Survey in 2016. In 2019, people in England cycled an estimated total of 964 million stages, an increase of 17% since 2013 (the CWIS baseline).

Adjusting for changes in severity reporting, total pedal cyclists killed or seriously injured per billion miles cycled in 2019 was 1,280 with levels falling since 2012.

We recognise that the international rail sector, as with the rest of the international travel sector, has been significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

DfT officials have engaged extensively and supported operators across transport sectors, including the international rail sector, to make full use of the various government support schemes available where appropriate, including the Coronavirus job retention scheme.

We continue to engage regularly with international rail stakeholders including Eurostar, Eurotunnel and HS1 Ltd, and monitor very closely the impacts of Covid-19 on this sector, as well as the decisions taken by companies in response.

The Government recognises the significant financial challenges facing Eurostar and HS1 as a result of Covid-19 and the unprecedented circumstances currently faced by the international travel industry.

The Government has been engaging extensively with Eurostar and HS1 since the outbreak of Covid-19 earlier this year, closely monitoring the ongoing impact on demand for international rail services. Department for Transport officials have also worked with Eurostar to access the various Government support schemes where appropriate, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

As Rail Minister I have also recently met with both Eurostar and HS1 to discuss these challenges. The Government will continue to engage closely with Eurostar and HS1 as we move towards the next phase of our Covid-19 response, and in particular as we look to restart our travel sectors when it is safe to do so.

On 28 July the Prime Minister launched ambitious plans to boost cycling and walking, where half of all journeys in towns and cities are cycled or walked by 2030. This includes a £2 billion package of funding for active travel.

This will significantly increase the funding available for local authorities to deliver cycling and walking infrastructure, including on canal towpaths. Further details of funding for the different commitments in the Plan will be determined as part of the Spending Review process in the autumn.

The Department for Transport has met with the Light Rail Standards and Safety Board to discuss their work programme following the Rail Investigation Accident Board report into the Sandilands tram accident. This included a discussion at the UK Tram annual conference in September last year.

The Department has provided over £1.8 million to help the Board take forward safety of light rail systems and is shortly to provide a further £1.5 million in this regard. Further funding for future years will be determined following the next Spending Review. It is also expected the sector provide funding in parallel to ensure the safety of the systems they operate.