Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 13
2nd Report - Condition and maintenance of Local Roads in England
Published 17 Jan 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Condition and maintenance of Local Roads in England All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department told us that it is looking to improve the quality of its data through the introduction of a new data standard — PAS 2161 — for local authorities to use in reporting the condition of local roads. The Department considers that the new standard will improve the granularity and robustness of data collected, with five categories now used to rate the condition of local roads rather than three, and the option for local authorities to use a wider variety of new technologies to gather consistent data. The Department currently requires local authorities to collect data using just one method, based on technology from the 1980s.23
From: Public Accounts Committee, 2nd Report - Condition and maintenance of Local Roads in England (HC 349), 17 January 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Second Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Second report from Session 2024-25
Published 6 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations, disagrees with the recommendation to revise the funding allocation method (while agreeing to review the funding formula), and gives target implementation dates for each agreed item.
- On funding allocation, the government disagrees with the recommendation but "agrees to review the funding formula"; it "cannot commit to any changes" until options are assessed for feasibility and deliverability, and the earliest any change could take effect is the start of financial year 2026-27.
- On funding certainty, the government agrees and "intends to move to multi-year funding settlements in future", and the department "intends to consolidate" local highways maintenance funding streams so authorities receive one funding line only.
- On data and responsibilities, the government agrees; the department will publish a short Gov.UK document summarising legal responsibilities (target April 2026), and has begun engagement on making reporting against PAS 2161 "a mandatory requirement in England".
- On the Code of Practice, the government agrees it should be refreshed (target September 2026) and will "consider further whether, and if so how" authorities might be required to follow best practice to qualify for funding; it says linking this to the incentive element directly is not "feasible".