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Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee 24 November 2016

24 Nov 2016 · S5 · Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee

Item of business

“Maintaining Scotland’s roads: A follow-up report”

Fraser McKinlay (Audit Scotland) Watch on SPTV

Thank you, convener. Good morning, members. This report on maintaining Scotland’s roads is a joint report by the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission, so it covers both the Scottish Government’s responsibilities for maintaining the trunk road network and councils’ responsibilities for maintaining local roads. We have, over the years, reported quite regularly on Scotland’s roads. That partly reflects the important investment and the amount of money that is spent, but it also reflects the importance that local communities and the people of Scotland attach to the condition of roads. It is our fourth report since 2005, and it looks at three main issues. I will briefly summarise the key points. The first part of the report looks at the condition of roads and the expenditure on them. It is fair to say that our previous reports on roads maintenance have painted a picture of roads authorities both locally and nationally having to work hard to maintain the condition of roads in the face of declining budgets. This report is exactly the same in that regard. We have found that the condition of trunk roads declined from 90 per cent being in acceptable condition in 2011-12 to 87 per cent being in acceptable condition in 2014-15. Most of that decline is associated with the condition of motorways. Over the same period, Transport Scotland’s expenditure on trunk roads maintenance fell from £168 million to £162 million. By its own assessment, it spent £24 million—that is 38 per cent—less on structural maintenance in 2014-15 than it considers necessary to maintain the trunk road condition at the current levels. The condition of local roads remained stable, with around 63 per cent being in acceptable condition from 2011-12 to 2014-15, although there is significant variation among councils within the national picture. Total council expenditure on roads maintenance continued to decrease overall, from £302 million to £259 million—that is 14 per cent—over the same period. The Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland has calculated that, overall, councils spent £33 million—that is 13 per cent—less on planned and routine maintenance in 2014-15 than was necessary to maintain the current condition of local roads. In terms of the management of roads maintenance, previous audit reports highlighted the need for all authorities to develop road asset management plans. We are pleased that all councils and Transport Scotland now have those in place, although we think they still lack detail in some places. Although councils have now adopted a common set of performance indicators, the focus to date has mainly been on ensuring that that data is consistent. Transport Scotland has its own set of performance measures, because, owing to the different levels of service between trunk and local roads, it considers that many of the aspects of performance that it measures are not directly comparable with councils’ performance indicators. It is quite a complex picture when you try to compare the local and national pictures. The third part of the report talks about the developments in improving collaborative working. Our previous audit reports stressed the importance of developing a more collaborative approach to roads maintenance, and that was also an important recommendation from the national roads maintenance review, which was published back in 2012. The Auditor General and the Accounts Commission feel that progress in developing that more collaborative approach has been disappointingly slow. Although regional arrangements are now being established and facilitated through the roads collaboration programme, there is no clear plan or timetable for determining the extent of shared services at an operational level. There are examples out there that are mentioned in the report. The Ayrshire roads alliance and Tayside contracts have been around for quite a long time, and it is important that we learn the lessons from those. In relation to the trunk road network, we think that there is an opportunity for Transport Scotland to maximise the opportunities for more collaboration with councils through conditions in the trunk road operational contracts. As always, my colleagues and I are very happy to answer the committee’s questions.

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Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee 24 November 2016

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