Robert Halfon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Halfon on 2014-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the benefits to children’s safety of road crossing patrollers.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government firmly believes in localism and providing local authorities with powers to introduce measures to deal with local needs and conditions. Local authorities will invariably have a strategy to improve road safety and will prioritise their road network based on the need to reduce casualties.

The provision of the school crossing patrol service is a matter for the local authority. Legislation gives them the power to make arrangements for the patrolling of places where children cross roads on their way to or from school, but does not impose a duty on them to do so. Funding decisions are also a matter for the local authority based on their local needs and priorities.

It is for the Council to assess the crossing situation and determine a course of action as it is in this situation. In some cases, if the authority agrees that children from a particular school need help in crossing a busy road but have not recruited anyone, they have to think about finding other ways of making the crossing safer – for example, by putting in a pedestrian crossing.