1. What further steps will the Welsh Government take to improve road safety in Wales? OAQ52077

The road safety framework for Wales sets out the actions that we and our partners are undertaking to improve road safety across Wales, and the mid-term review of the framework showed that good progress has been made against the targets and the actions.

Cabinet Secretary, there is growing evidence and support for a default 20 mph speed limit in urban areas, with provision for lower or higher limits on particular roads. The evidence is that there would be fewer crashes, fewer casualties, fewer fatalities, and that traffic would move more freely, with lower emissions. It has strong public support, and it's estimated that tens of millions of pounds would be saved. It also links with active travel. In Bristol, for example, where they've rolled out such a speed limit, more people are walking and cycling to school and work, and, in fact, 25 per cent of Britain's urban areas are now 20 mph areas. There is a strong '20's plenty' campaign, calling on Welsh Government to introduce a 20 mph default speed limit in urban areas, and this is supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Health Organization, Public Health Wales, Sport Wales, and Brake. Will Welsh Government now introduce this policy in Wales?

Diprwy Llywydd, can I thank John Griffiths for his question, and confirm that Welsh Government's position is that we support the introduction of 20 mph zones and 20 mph speed limits where there is evidence that they are needed? The Member is absolutely right that the available evidence does suggest that they lead to a reduction in speed limits, and therefore to improved safety, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists. Highways authorities already have the power to alter speed limits by order, and any changes that they make obviously need to be done in conjunction with consultation of the local community. But we actually provide funding for local authorities to implement 20 mph zones, and 20 mph limits, through the road safety and Safe Routes in Communities grants, and we also, in addition to this, provide support for 20 mph reductions outside of schools on trunk road networks, and I think that's particularly important in urban areas.

Cabinet Secretary, statistics published in January this year show that, although motor cyclists accounted for less than 1 per cent of traffic in Wales in 2016, they represented 23 per cent of all killed and seriously injured casualties in Wales also. In total, 22 motorcyclists were killed on Welsh roads in 2016. It's a staggering figure and totally unacceptable. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to increase awareness of the vulnerability of motorcyclists on Welsh roads, please?

Well, the Member is absolutely right—whilst good progress is being made against many of the targets, for example targets concerning young people and overall the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on the roads, the statistics relating to motor cyclists remain stubborn and of grave concern to us. There's only been a 1 per cent reduction, so as a consequence proportion continues to increase. In order to address this particular problem—and I'm aware that many Members in this Chamber are able to point to specific locations where motor cyclists are at great danger—we're working with Go Safe and other partners within the police force to develop a data analysis capacity, in order to better inform interventions. We've also begun discussions with a national not-for-profit road safety organisation about potential for their Two Wheels motor cycling courses to operate here in Wales. We believe that better training—an extension of the training that's already provided—is absolutely essential to reduce those killed or seriously injured figures. And we're also working with colleagues in the department for education on the potential to include road safety content in the health and well-being area of the learning experience. I think, again, the sooner that we can introduce responsible methods, responsible behaviours, in terms of cycling and motor cycling, the better, and doing it at school makes perfect sense.

Mick Antoniw.

An Assembly Member: Can I make an intervention on that, please?

No, sorry. Mick Antoniw.

Cabinet Secretary, can I firstly welcome the very significant investment the Welsh Government, in conjunction with Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, is making into road safety measures, certainly in the west of my constituency, and there are a number of projects under way? In particular, at Beddau Halt in my constituency, a notorious accident black spot, the agreement now of the investment of £700,000 to resolve that is extremely welcome. That investment is a product, actually, of a campaign by local people, local residents, by councillors, and has resulted, I think, in a tremendous partnership to actually work out ways of resolving some of these accident black spots. Do you agree that this is a good way forward, with Welsh Government listening to what local people and local councillors say, and the partnership investing in resolving our accident black spots?

I couldn't agree more. In fact, the example that the Member points to also demonstrates the five ways of working of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 being delivered on a local level, with collaboration and participation, and, indeed, there is a good degree of collaboration between my officials and the local authority in order to enhance the quality of the bid from the first stage to the second stage. And I'm delighted that we're able to support the proposals with more than £300,000 of funding, and I'm also pleased to be able to say that we've allocated £119,000 of resource to help improve road safety education across the borough.