Step Up: Councils and Health Authorities

Step Up and Living Street's Walk to School campaign are designed to be essential tools for Local Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and Local Strategic Partnerships looking to meet their statutory duties and key performance indicators.

Local Area Agreement Outcomes

Step Up can contribute to the following LAA Outcomes:

Safer and Stronger Communities
• NI 004 Percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality
• NI 005 Overall/general satisfaction with local area
• NI 017 Perceptions of anti-social behaviour


Health and Wellbeing - Adults and Children
• NI 119 Self-reported measure of people's overall health and wellbeing


Children and Young People
• NI 048 Children killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents
• NI 198 Children travelling to school - mode of transport usually used


Tackling Climate Change
• NI 185 CO₂ reduction from Local Authority operations
• NI 186 Per capita reduction in CO₂ emissions in the LA area
• NI 194 Air quality - % reduction in NO_x and primary PM₁₀ emissions through local authority's estate and operations


Environmental Improvements
• NI 195 Improved street and environmental cleanliness (levels of litter, detritus, graffiti and fly posting)
• NI 197 Improved local biodiversity - proportion of local sites where positive conservation management has been or is being implemented


Transport
• NI 167 Congestion - average journey time per mile during the morning peak
• NI 175 Access to services and facilities by public transport, walking and cycling
• NI 198 Children travelling to school - mode of transport usually used

There is also some evidence that promoting walking to school can also have a positive impact on academic performance and absentee levels - which form the bulk of the obligatory LAA Outcomes.

Duties under the Education and Inspections Act (2006)

Since April 2007, local authorities have had a duty to promote sustainable school transport, leading to health and environmental well-being (section 76). They are expected to publish an strategy for promoting sustainable transport and assess and audit the travel and transport needs of all pupils. Step Up will help to engage pupils in this process, and act as a mechanism for deliverying the strategy.

Other Statutory Duties

Step Up obviously links very closely to the Department for Transport's Travelling to School Project, as well as the National Healthy Schools Programme and the National Framework for Sustainable Schools from Department for Children, Schools and Families.