Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason Highways England does not undertake audits of its contractors’ work for litter clearance.

Litter picking is an activity undertaken as part of National Highways’ cyclical maintenance programme by its maintenance and response contractors.

To monitor and manage their performance, National Highways undertakes monthly performance reviews of each of their maintenance and response contractors. This is done through the Collaborative Performance Framework which includes a metric on sweeping and cleaning. Scores are reviewed and discussed with the supplier at a monthly performance review meeting where any areas of underperformance are addressed.

Additionally, National Highways carry out annual audits of each contractor through Service Quality Reviews, as set out in their ‘perform quality audit’ process. These audits are undertaken by National Highways’ quality performance assurance teams and National Highways does not hesitate to take remedial action where required.