Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review their process of assessing (1) the carbon emissions, and (2) the economic benefits, resulting from new roadbuilding schemes; and what consideration they have given to assessing those impacts against the same criteria.

Her Majesty’s Government employs a relevant, robust and trusted analytical process designed to assess the likely impacts of both individual strategic road schemes and our road investment strategy as a whole. The impacts of such schemes on, for example, carbon, employment, housing, air quality and environmental issues are all assessed by the Department in line with its Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG).

The Department keeps its appraisal and modelling methodologies which are set out in TAG, under constant review, commissioning research to improve the evidence base as well as improving methodologies. The recently published TAG route map sets out our plans to update our guidance over the next six months and includes plans to update carbon values once these are finalised by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).