Written question asked by Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 26 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 30 January 2006. It was answered by Stephen Ladyman (Labour) on Monday, 6 February 2006 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Road Improvements

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2006, Official Report, column 1994W, on road improvements, how many of the Highways Agency Targeted Programme of Improvements projects are on the basis of (a) fixed price, (b) time and materials and (c) other.

Answer: Three of the Highways Agency Targeted Programme of Improvements projects are in category (a) , 39 of them are in category (b) and 17 of them are in category (c) .Three categories have been interpreted as follows:"(a) Fixed price: PFI (private finance initiative) schemes or the pilot fixed price contract for A500 City Road and Stoke Junction""(b) Time and materials: The ECI (early contractor involvement) form of contract where the majority of the payments are made on actual cost against the target cost plus fixed profit and overheads""(c) Other: This has been taken to include ECC (engineering and construction contract) option B (priced contract with bill of quantities) and ECC option C (target price with activity schedule)."

Secondary information