Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the news story entitled All new smart motorways scrapped, published by his Department on 15 April 2023, how much his Department spent on the (a) planning and (b) design of the (i) 11 schemes paused from the second and (ii) three schemes earmarked for construction during the third road investment strategy.

Since the beginning of the Smart Motorways Programme in the mid-2000s, which was subsequently expanded, including in 2007 and in February 2010, approximately £21.9m has been spent on planning and £37.4m on design of the 11 smart motorways schemes that were allocated to be completed during the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2), and which have now been cancelled.

£2.9m has been spent on planning the three smart motorway schemes earmarked for potential inclusion in the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) period. No costs have been incurred on design activities for these three schemes due to their early cancellation.