The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond): I am pleased to announce that all of the Department for Transport’s Executive agencies published their annual business plans on the 3 April. The Highways Agency (HA), the Driving Standards Agency (DSA), the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the Vehicle Certification Agency (VGA), the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) business plans are now available electronically on agency websites and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The business plans set out the agencies’ budgets, key priorities, activities and performance measures for 2013-14. Service users and members of the public will be able to assess how the agencies have performed against the delivery of their business plans through their annual reports that will be published next year.
The Department also published on the same day the first performance specification for the strategic road network which sets out five outcomes and underlying key performance deliverables for this network for the period 2013-15. This meets a key recommendation made by Alan Cook in his review of the strategic road network and outlines the Government’s commitment to improve the future efficiency and reliability of Highways Agency roads. This is about establishing a more transparent and robust system for monitoring the performance of the Highways Agency leading to a more effective strategic road network for all road users. The Highways Agency’s latest business plan sets out the activities which will contribute towards the delivering of this performance specification.
