Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current rate of improvement in road repairs across England; what metrics they use to undertake such an assessment; and what period such an assessment covers.

DfT collects and collates a range of information about information about local roads from local authorities in England annually.

Official statistics on the condition of local roads in England are published annually on GOV.uk. These statistics have presented the percentage of road that should have been considered for maintenance (red), by road classification and local authority, since 2008. These statistics show that in England:

• The percentage of local ‘A’ road categorised as red has remained at 4% since 2020. Despite a slight increase from 3% in 2019, the proportion of ‘A’ road categorised as red is still below levels seen in 2008 to 2013.
• After reaching a peak in 2011 and 2012, where 10% of ‘B’ and ‘C’ road was categorised as red, the proportion fell to 6% in 2016 but has since increased to 7% in 2023 and 2024.
• The proportion of the unclassified road network categorised as red has fluctuated between 15% and 18% since current reporting started in 2008, and in 2024 stood at 17%, unchanged from 2023.

This financial year the Government has introduced transparency reporting for local highway authorities across England alongside making an additional £500 million available for highways maintenance. To qualify for their full share of this funding uplift, local highway authorities had to publish reports setting out how they comply with best practice, including in relation to the extent to which they prioritise preventative maintenance.

Further to this, on 11 January, the Department published a new rating system for every highway authority in England. Each local highway authority received a red, amber or green rating based on the condition of their roads, how much they are spending to maintain it, and whether they do so using best practice, including by adopting more preventative maintenance. The ratings, which will be updated periodically, provide an incentive for councils to adopt more preventative maintenance, and enable the Department to provide targeted support to authorities to help them adopt best practice.

To gain access to their full highways maintenance funding in the future, local highway authorities will have to continue to demonstrate that they comply with best practice, for example by adopting more preventative maintenance.