§ Mr. CrausbyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of schools(a) in Bolton, North East, (b) in Greater Manchester and (c) in England have implemented initiatives under the Safe Routes to Schools programme. [172601]
§ Mr. JamiesonI have been asked to reply.
Local transport plan annual progress reports submitted by local authorities at the end of July 2003 showed that by the end of March 2004 (a) they did not expect any schools in the area covered by Bolton metropolitan borough council to have either a safe route to school or a school travel plan in place; (b) they expected 260 schools in Greater Manchester to have at least one safe route to school and 167 to have a school travel plan in place; and (c) they expected over 3,800 schools nationally to have at least one safe route to school and over 3,500 to have a school travel plan in place. Local transport plan annual progress reports do not enable us to identify the numbers of safe routes to school and school travel plans by constituency area.
Although no schools in Bolton currently have a safe route to school or school travel plan in place, I understand that at least seven local traffic calming schemes have been implemented within the immediate environs of schools, one school has prepared a drafts school travel plan and several others have expressed an interest in developing a plan.