These documents record the equality analysis undertaken for the decision to move England into step 4 through the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps etc.) (England) (Revocation and Amendment) Regulations 2021.

Ministers are required under the https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/2260/contents/made">Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) as set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 to have regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• advance equality of opportunity between different groups
• foster good relations between different groups

Ministers are required to consider the impact of policy decisions on people’s protected characteristics, with particular emphasis on meeting the duties set out above. These protected characteristics are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity
• marriage and civil partnership
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

The regulations covered by these PSED documents relate to the decision to move England into step 4 on 19 July 2021. This resulted in most legal restrictions, including those relating to social distancing and social contact, ending. All remaining businesses were allowed to reopen.

These are the final statistics on road collisions and casualties for Great Britain in 2023.

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a small decline in reported road casualties in Great Britain with casualty numbers broadly following the trends observed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of fatalities in 2023 is the lowest recorded outside of years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, although fatality figures are relatively small and can fluctuate from year to year. Overall casualties have returned to the steady decline observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the number of killed or seriously injured casualties has fallen less, particularly since 2017.

In reported road collisions in Great Britain in 2023, there were an estimated:

• 1,624 fatalities, a decline of 5% compared to 2022
• 29,711 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties, little change compared to 2022
• 132,977 casualties of all severities, a decline of 2% compared to 2022
• 5 road fatalities per billion vehicle miles travelled, down 7% compared to 2022

Alongside the main publication and full set of detailed road safety statistical tables, we have also published a range of road safety factsheets focussed on specific road users or topics, including the official statistics on e-scooter collisions and casualties, and new analyses looking at the ‘fatal 4’ factors based on the new road safety factors classification, and self-reported driver behaviour based on Crime Survey for England and Wales data.

We have also published an update on progress in implementing the latest STATS19 review and future development roadmap, as well as new tools to download and to map casualty data.

The next reported road casualty statistics, for the year to end June 2024, are scheduled for publication in November.

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