Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the £900 million budget allocated to Highways England over the six year spending period 2015 to 2021 to deliver wider environmental, social and economic objectives on the strategic road network as part of the Road Investment Strategy has been (a) spent as of 28 October 2019 and (b) spent in each of the Five Designated Funds.

Highways England has a £675 million designated fund budget covering the period April 2015 to March 2020. The remaining £225m of the £900m commitment is for 2020/21 and will be superseded by the first year of the second Road Investment Strategy. As of the end of September 2019, half the way through the 2019/20 financial year, Highways England had invested £460.2 million of these funds.

This investment has been delivered across the five designated funds as follows:

Spend has increased year on year as Highways England has developed the maturity of the programme through Road Period 1. Highways England is focussed on delivering the remaining £214.8 million spend on interventions that deliver the greatest benefits to our road users and local communities and it has developed an in-year programme capable of delivering the remaining budgets across the Environment, CSI, Innovation and Growth & Housing fund.

Highways England is already starting to see the positive impact of the Designated Funds programme and its spend to date has contributed to the following successes:

• Facilitating safe movement for cyclists, walkers and other vulnerable road users through delivering 102 cycling schemes, and supporting construction of 114 new and 220 upgraded crossings.

• Completion of over 90 safety schemes to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the network.

• 665 Noise Important Areas mitigated to reduce the impact of noise on residents living locally to its roads.

• Growth and Housing projects expect to provide up to 45,000 homes and 44,000 jobs.