Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on implementing the Road condition data and technology review, published in August 2021; and what his timetable is for the delivery of that review.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has chosen to take forward option 3 outlined in the Road condition data and technology review position paper; that ‘Local highway authorities can choose any surveying technology that aligns to a new industry data standard.’

DfT has now established the data standard steering group with representatives from both local highway authorities and industry experts and has procured the services of the British Standards Institute (BSI) in March 2022 and Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) as technical author in August 2022. These bodies will develop this new data standard, which will be inclusive of multiple technologies whilst providing robust comparable road condition data for national reporting by DfT.

The DfT aims to publish the new data standard at the end of 2023, and is continuing to work with BSI, TRL, and the steering group of industry experts as part of the iterative development of the standard. Once the standard is in place in 2024, there will be a period to enable technology providers and local highway authorities to fully conform to it. The DfT intends to have a full switch to the new data standard from 2026 onwards.