asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are aware of any assessment made by the European Commission of road deaths among those aged under 25 years; what were the results of any such assessment; and what action they are taking to reduce the percentage of people under 25 killed on the roads. [HL4853]

The European Road Safety Observatory website (www.erso.eu) provides a recent report on novice drivers aged 18 to 24 years which proposed countermeasures to reduce their high casualty rate. The Government's road safety strategy, reviewed earlier this year, sets out what is needed to make Britain's roads safer, including for those aged under 25 years. That includes a proposal to reform fundamentally the way people learn to drive consistent with the vocational frameworks now being established across the education system and in industry. There will be a consultation on that later this year.

The new child road safety strategy 2007, published in February, sets out an action plan of measures to help reduce casualties to children under 16 between now and 2010—including some that are new and some that are continuing or developing existing measures; for example, more local safety schemes and greater promotion of safer road use by everyone under the THINK! banner.