To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the trials of the variable speed limits outside schools are to begin; and if he will make a statement.

The first experimental site at Howick on the A5092 trunk road in Cumbria has come into operation today. This is the first of the 14 school sites on trunk roads and 100 sites on local authority roads where variable limits are being introduced on an experimental basis. The results will be monitored and, if the signs are effective in reducing drivers speeds, provision will be made to permit variable speed limits to be more widely applied.