Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the latest statistics from the National Road Maintenance Condition Survey with regard to the maintenance state of (1) the motorway network, (2) the strategic road network under the care of the Highways Agency, and (3) the main road network maintained by local authorities.

I refer my noble Lord to my answer of 6 July (HL794) in the assessment made by Highways Agency, now Highways England, in relation to motorways and trunk roads.

The Department for Transport published road condition statistics in March 2015 based upon data reported by local highway authorities. These suggest that principal ‘A’ roads in England under the responsibility of local highway authorities are starting to show an improvement in condition. It is noteworthy that funding allocated to local highway authorities for local highways maintenance in the 2010-2015 Parliament was £1billion more than in the 2005 to 2010 Parliament. The Department for Transport also set out in December 2014 how it is allocating funding of just under £6 billion to local authorities in England, outside London, for highways maintenance between 2015 and 2021. This represents an increase of around 5% compared to the previous six year period.