Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria are used to decide which local authorities receive monies from the challenge fund allocation; what weighting is given to highways management efficiency; and how information used in the process of decision is verified.

As part of the Government’s announcement on 23 December 2014 in respect to local highways maintenance funding to highway authorities in England, outside London, the Department for Transport published guidance, an application form, as well as assessment criteria for the local highways maintenance challenge fund. The information is available at the following weblink:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-highways-maintenance-challenge-fund

Assessment of all the bids received by close on 9 February 2015 is based on the published criteria and will help inform the decision on successful schemes based on the evidence supplied by local highway authorities.

As part of the assessment by the Department for Transport, each bid is being subject to a dual-assessment, and will also go through a moderation exercise plus an internal Department for Transport investment decision committee approval process before Ministers make final decisions on which schemes will be awarded funding.