The sector has raised concerns that National Highways' functions could be in the crosshairs of a Cabinet Office review of all government quangos, with a view to potentially closing any that cannot justify their existence.
Commissioned by the Cabinet Office and under the supervision of the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden MP, the review will cover all arm's length bodies (ALBs) in an effort to ‘rewire’ Whitehall and produce a more efficient, and productive state by bringing powers back to into departments.
Ministers have already announced that NHS England would be dissolved and brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
In the upcoming issue of Highways (May) Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation and a former director general at the Department for Transport, argued in favour of retaining the national roads operator - a view shared widely across the highways sector.
Mr Gooding, who was instrumental in establishing the government-owned company, said that it is important ‘not to lose sight of the rationale for [National Highways’s] existence’.
He highlighted that the operator was created in 2015 to give ‘more certainty over the forward programme of work, more responsibility for developing the engineering solutions needed to manage the network and more focus on delivering for its customers’.
The Cabinet Office, Department for Transport (DfT) and National Highways were approached for comment.
Despite the concerns in the sector, the new Government has previously committed to the principle of long-term funding settlements for highways management, including a third road investment strategy (RIS 3) for National Highways. Such settlements are almost universally agreed to be the most efficient way to run highways asset management.
The DfT has allotted £4.8bn to National Highways for the financial year 2025-26. This is an interim year before the start of RIS 3, which is scheduled to run from April 2026 to 2031.
The second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) ended on March 31, 2025, and the DfT delayed the commencement of RIS 3 until 2026 to allow for the Spending Review to be considered, informing the development of the new strategy.
Mr McFadden, MP, said: ‘The review will aim to drive out waste and inefficiency across Whitehall, reducing duplication and bureaucracy - saving the taxpayer money and cutting the cost of “doing government”.’
The Cabinet Office expects that quangos with large policy functions will likely be brought back into departments whilst retaining the expertise of the staff working in those areas. It stated that where independence from Ministerial decision-making is essential, such as government oversight, then these will be unaffected by this review.
All ALBs that persist after the review will be directly accountable to the relevant cabinet secretaries and departmental secretaries of state.
The review will focus on four ‘key principles’: ministerial policy oversight, duplication and efficiency, stakeholder management and independent advice.
As many existing ALBs are set up in legislation, including National Highways under the 2015 Infrastructure Act, the Government has stated that it will also consider whether changes to legislation will be needed to implement and deliver this review.
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