The Department welcomes publication of the KPMG index, which ranks the United Kingdom in the top five nations for overall autonomous vehicle readiness. The index reflects our excellence in technology and innovation and highlights the very strong industry partnerships and academic research this Government has established, as well as our exemplar status in terms of regulation.

The more moderate perceived performance in enabling autonomous vehicle infrastructure is due, largely, to a low overall score for 4G coverage. Although substantial improvements in 4G coverage have been achieved recently, reliable coverage across our road networks is a Government priority, demonstrated by the 2017 Conservative manifesto commitment to improve coverage on major roads as well as railways. The Department continues to work closely both with the Government’s Digital Implementation Taskforce to ensure delivery of this commitment, and with the industry to determine what the enabling requirements for automated vehicles will be.

The current status of the 19 schemes announced in December 2014 for the Midlands is given in Highways England’s Delivery Plan for 2016-2017, which is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/highways-england-delivery-plan-2016-to-2017

Overall schemes which are under construction are coming in or under budget. For schemes under development we would expect some movement in timescales or costs but overall Highways England is on course to deliver its commitments within the allocated funding.

Transport Ministers and the Department for Transport had received no written representations on this subject, as of 31^st May 2016. The effect on road freight of the recent strike action has not been specifically raised by UK Transport Ministers with French counterparts.

The Department appointed Transport Focus (TF) as the road user watchdog and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) as the Highways Monitor on the formation of Highways England on 1 April 2015. In addition to reporting from TF and ORR, officials regularly meet with Highways England to discuss all aspects of their performance, including customer satisfaction.

TF is developing a new Strategic Roads User Survey to measure satisfaction among those using Highways England’s network with input from the Department. It is intended to pilot this throughout 2016 and then launch the new survey during 2017. This will run in parallel with Highways England’s existing National Road User Satisfaction Survey until that ceases in March 2018.

Details of safety events involving the transport of nuclear material both by rail and on the strategic road network can be found in the following report:

Events reported to Nuclear Safety Regulator 2001-2015:

http://news.onr.org.uk/2016/02/events-reported-to-nuclear-safety-regulator-2001-15/

At the budget £161m was announced for the acceleration of smart motorway upgrades to the M62 between junctions 10-12 and 20-25. A further £75m from the Transport Development Fund was committed to developing the recommendations of the government’s strategic studies on Northern Trans-Pennine routes, Manchester’s North West Quadrant and the Trans-Pennine Tunnel. Both of these commitments are in addition to the £1.5bn being spent in the North West between 2015 and 2021 to deliver schemes committed under the first Road Investment Strategy.

The 31 local authorities that have not yet received an agreement proposal are:

The Department for Transport plans to commission a road safety management capacity review during the next financial year.

Budget 2016 marked the launch of work on preparing the next Road Investment Strategy. This includes determining how much funding will be made available for the period 2020/21-2024/25 and which investment proposals to take forward. The Department for Transport has published “Road Investment Strategy post 2020: planning ahead” to inform all interested parties so that they can play their part in the preparation of the next Road Investment Strategy. It is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508505/road-investment-strategy-post-2020-planning-ahead.pdf

The £24m my Department is providing to North Yorkshire County Council is to part fund a scheme to maintain a large number of minor (Category 4a and 4b) roads across the County over the period 2016-2021. A map of the affected roads can be found in the Business case at: http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/lgfmaintenance

The scheme was given initial approval as part of the Local Growth Fund process in 2014 following a bid from the Council supported by the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Department for Transport is allocating £180 million to help assist local highway authorities affected by the storms this winter season. This includes a further £130 million as announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget 2016.

It will be for each local highway authority to decide on how this funding will be spent in in Cumbria, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Greater Manchester and Durham in repairing damaged local highway infrastructure.

Timescales for delivery of the A2 M2 London to Dover Connected Vehicles Corridor remain indicative. Feasibility work is due to conclude in June 2016, after which detailed scheme design is programmed to complete during 2017. Between September 2017 and January 2019, infrastructure will be deployed at the roadside and, where possible on existing street furniture, to minimise disruption. These devices will connect wirelessly with a limited number of test vehicles. Evaluation will be ongoing during that period.

The programme is expected to report during 2018/19 on recommendations for future deployment.

Highways England is an active member of the National and Regional Traffic Manager Forums. In 2012, Highways Agency (as was), through the governance of the Forum, devised partnership agreements for cooperation and collaboration between Highways Agency and 120 local highway authorities and provide a framework to meet their statutory obligations with regard to the Traffic Management Act 2004. Highways England is now in the process of revising these agreements.

So far, there are two fully revised agreements with Kent County Council and Warwickshire County Council. Highways England are liaising with another 87 local highway authorities, having adding a further 22 Local Authorities since the last Parliamentary Questions on this issue. The vast majority of these authorities accept the principles of the agreement, which include protocols for agreeing and using diversion routes when a section of the network has to be closed, but have not yet formally agreed these. In some cases specific local issues need to be resolved and Highways England is engaged with those authorities to resolve them. This leaves 31 authorities requiring an updated agreement.

It should be noted that whether a partnership agreement is endorsed or otherwise, Highways England and Local Authorities work cooperatively in an emergency applying the fundamental principles contained within the agreements to uphold the safety and free-flow of their respective networks and aim to minimise disruption to drivers and communities.

The Road Safety Statement, published on 21 December 2015, sets out the government’s plan to undertake a road safety management capacity review, to identify areas for improved joint working, local innovation and efficiency.

Highways England, as a Government Owned Company, is responsible for complying with the mandatory legal requirements under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which includes removing litter on England’s strategic road network.

Collecting litter puts road workers at risk and is a costly operation, so Highways England works collaboratively with a number of organisations to promote anti-litter campaigns designed to prevent littering occurring.

Highways England has a Crisis Management Manual which provides protocols for the management of the response for incidents that significantly affect the strategic road network.

Highways England is in the process of developing partnership agreements with 120 Local Authorities. So far, 65 partnership agreements have been sent out to Local Authorities. These include protocols for agreeing and using diversion routes when a section of the network has to be closed.

The vast majority of these authorities accept the principles of the agreement, but in some cases specific local issues need to be resolved and Highways England is engaged with those authorities to resolve them. However, it should be noted that a partnership agreement or otherwise would not adversely interfere with Highways England and Local Authorities working cooperatively in an emergency.

As a Category 2 responder in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, Highways England participates in Local Resilience Forums and contributes to the development of multi-agency plans for the response to Major Incidents (led by Category 1 responders).

The schemes identified in the 2015 – 2020 Road Investment Strategy being developed for delivery by Highways England and collectively now referred to as the Trans-Pennine Upgrade Programme are:

• Mottram Moor link road
• A57(T) to A57 link road
• A61 dualling
• A628 climbing lanes
• Safety and technology improvements

A full public consultation will be held in spring 2017 prior to submitting an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) in autumn 2018.

Subject to a successful DCO application it is expected that construction will commence in March 2020 and be open for traffic in Spring 2023. However, ways to advance those dates will be explored through the design and delivery process.

For schemes that are Open for Traffic, the actual out-turn costs have been provided. Schemes that are in development or construction show the latest approved estimate.

For the remaining schemes outlined in the 1 December 2014 announcement, the current costs are the cost category as quoted in the RIS Investment Plan, which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/381496/roads-investment-strategy-summary-of-schemes.pdf

There is currently no cost information for the Strategic Studies as they are in the very early stages of investigating options.

For schemes that are Open for Traffic, the actual out-turn costs have been provided. Schemes that are in development or construction show the latest approved estimate.

For the remaining schemes outlined in the 1 December 2014 announcement, the current costs are the cost category as quoted in the RIS Investment Plan, which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/381496/roads-investment-strategy-summary-of-schemes.pdf

There is currently no cost information for the Strategic Studies as they are in the very early stages of investigating options.

For schemes that are Open for Traffic, the actual out-turn costs have been provided. Schemes that are in development or construction show the latest approved estimate.

For the remaining schemes outlined in the 1 December 2014 announcement, the current costs are the cost category as quoted in the RIS Investment Plan, which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/381496/roads-investment-strategy-summary-of-schemes.pdf

There is currently no cost information for the Strategic Studies as they are in the very early stages of investigating options.