§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will provide funding for local councils to pay a mileage rate on cycle use by their employees. [119337]
§ Ms Beverley HughesThe Government do not provide funding specifically for this purpose. It is for individual local authorities to decide whether to pay cycling mileage allowances to their employees, and to meet the cost from their general budgets. We would certainly encourage all councils and other employers to promote the use of cycles; mileage allowances are one way of doing this. The Government have already increased the taxable allowance on business travel by bicycle to 12p per mile.
If cycles are used on official journeys by employees instead of their cars, councils stand to make a considerable saving on mileage payments.