22. To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding her Department has provided for (a) local authorities and (b) others to support the provision of training for cyclists in the last three years. (216877)

To date, we have made around £4.3 million available to local authorities to fund Bikeability, the new national standard for cycle training. This includes £150,000 to pilot the new standard in 2006-07, £1.2 million in 2007-08 and £3.1 million in this financial year. In addition, we have made around £1.5 million available to the School Sports Partnerships to increase Bikeability training in schools over the same period. We will also be providing funding amounting to around £400,000 to enable British cycling coaches to deliver Bikeability training this year.

We have also invested around £1 million between 2005-06 and 2007-08 via a grant to the Cycling Tourist Club to build capacity in the cycle training sector.

23. To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent progress her Department has made on encouraging more people to cycle in towns and cities. (216878)

We announced on 19 June a package of almost £100 million to support 12 new Cycling Demonstration Towns including the first large Demonstration City, Bristol. Half this funding is coming from the local authorities themselves, which is an encouraging demonstration of the level of support for cycling. They have joined the existing six, so there is now a demonstration place in every region, which will assist in the sharing of experience in increasing cycling levels through events such as regional workshops.