Road Safety Bill [HL]

I think that I support the amendment. In fact, the best ways to reduce child casualties are through such initiatives as the Better Ways to School campaign. But, the competition in our county for money for those schemes is fierce—I do not know whether the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, knows that. I received a copy of a letter from a head teacher of a local school, which said that a little bit of money was available and that she had seven days in which to submit a scheme. Her area is deprived and many children walk to school along busy roads. I know, as do the county council, of a number of measures that could well be taken to make the way safe. We return to the question that we raised at the beginning—it is a matter of resources. The reason that children in the higher social categories are not killed is that most of them do not walk or cycle along roads—they are conveyed in various types of vehicle, to which the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, frequently refers. They are not exposed to danger. They are inside safe vehicles. It is also necessary that after school such children are looked after, because the children to whom the noble Baroness referred are those who often go home to an empty house and need to be cared for. That means that people have to pay for it, certainly in my local authority area—there is no local authority funding for after school clubs. We shall return to the question of how we fund the areas to which the noble Baroness referred and I hope that she will support us when we divide the House over the need for more money to be spent on road safety, because I am at one with her. These people’s lives can be saved, but it takes money.