Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Draft Road Investment Strategy 3, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) construction inflation and (b) other cost pressures on the (i) scope and (ii) delivery timetables of planned enhancement projects.

Following the publication of the Draft Road Investment Strategy (RIS), National Highways has produced a draft Strategic Business Plan setting out how it intends to deliver the Government’s objectives within the proposed funding available, which the Office of Rail and Road is now in the process of assessing in its Efficiency Review. This review will include detailed considerations on matters such as the treatment of cost pressures and deliverability and will inform the final RIS which is due to be published next year.