Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the value for money of public funding in (a) active travel schemes and (b) road schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Transport schemes, including active travel schemes, and strategic and local authority road schemes are appraised following guidance set out in DfT’s Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG). Appraisals provide a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the impacts of a scheme. The economic dimension considers both impacts which can be monetised (and included in a Benefit Cost Ratio) and impacts which cannot be robustly valued but which are still assessed and reflected in the value for money assessment. Our appraisals capture impacts of transport investment across the economy, society and environment.

Schemes are assessed by the department following the 5 case business case model. Value for money is one of several factors the department considers.

A post-opening project evaluation assesses whether the benefits set out in a scheme’s business case are on track to be realised through systematically evaluating metrics in relation to impacts including traffic flows, journey times, journey time reliability, safety and the environment. Evaluation reports are published on the Government website.

The Second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) sets out the government’s plans for developing and improving the Strategic Road Network between 2020/21 and 2024/25. The RIS2 Analysis overview published in March 2020, found that at this point of appraisal for the Investment Plan, RIS2 overall is High Value for Money (VfM) – meaning that more than £2 of benefits are generated for each £1 spent.

Local major roads schemes within the Major Roads Network programme have been estimated to have an average Benefit Cost Ratio of around 4, indicating that the programme will deliver Very High value for money. Schemes in the programme have a typical BCR range of between 1.5 and 5, with a small number of schemes having a BCR outside of this range.

Active travel investment typically has at least high value for money. The average benefit-cost ratio, weighted by scheme cost, for Active Travel Fund 4 estimated that for every £1 of investment in active travel infrastructure schemes, there would be a return £2.40 of economic, social, and environmental benefits.

Behaviour change interventions funded by the Department have been estimated by our delivery partners to have a benefit cost ratio of 2.5 in 2021/22 for the Big Bike Revival and 5.5 in 2022/23 for Walk to School Outreach programmes.