Dr Julian Lewis:  To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on casualty (a) removal from crash scenes and (b) prospects of survival, of the inability of emergency service vehicles to reach serious accident locations on smart motorways, following the conversion of their hard shoulder into an extra lane; and if he will make a statement.  [11706]

[Due for Answer on 10 June]

ANSWER

The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport (Rachel Maclean): Throughout the design and development of All Lane Running (ALR) motorways, there has been extensive consultation with the emergency services to ensure that they have safe and effective operating procedures. Highways England has signed a national agreement with the Police, Fire and Ambulance services, setting out the principles of operating ALR motorways and responding to incidents, along with regional operating agreements to cover individual schemes.

Highways England undertakes regular stakeholder engagement events across all regions, which the emergency services attend. Highways England's regional teams routinely engage with key stakeholders, including police forces and other emergency services. In light of its extensive engagement with the emergency services, Highways England has not made a specific assessment of the effect on casualties of the ability of emergency service vehicles to reach the scene of serious incident locations on ALR motorways. Highways England is not aware of this issue being one which is consistently raised through its various forums.