Speeches by Turner.

“Essentially it comes down to wider contingency.”

“Very quickly, how does the funding for adaptive measures in suicide prevention work compare from RIS2 to RIS3? If that is something you wish to write to us with, please do.”

“We might be tempted to conclude that perhaps there is no value that can be taken from the experience.”

“During that process of development costs being incurred, I understand that some factors may have been overlooked at an early stage of maturity. There might be construction cost inflation or other factors beyond your control. At what point in that process do the red lights start flashing and you determine that something…”

“You have described changes that have been made within National Highways. Has the DFT changed the way that it solicits information, or otherwise exercises cost monitoring and control?”

“I also want to ask about suicide prevention, which of course is a very important area. I understand that recording information about suicides on the strategic road network is a challenging area. Available statistics suggest that there has perhaps been an increase, which has now reached a certain level year on year. I h…”

“If I may I want to ask a very quick supplementary on integration. On the problem of responsibility being disputed between National Highways and local highways authorities at times, I would be interested in hearing about how those disputes are resolved. We had a case recently where the lights were not working for months…”

“The ICO’s definition document for wholly owned public companies suggests that those documents should be published, and other transport bodies have done so for 20 years. Now, I appreciate that you have not been in post for that time, but if it could be discussed at the board and this Committee updated on the outcome, th…”

“I have a question for Gareth. In respect of governance at National Highways, the ORR, Network Rail, Civil Aviation Authority and HS2 Limited all publish minutes of board meetings. Why does National Highways not do the same?”

“Just to be absolutely clear, is that partnership with the Samaritans continuing into RIS3?”

“Has that been done for any contractors, say within the last five years?”

“A number of capital schemes were cancelled in 2024. In the National Highways annual report the recorded accounts were down in value by just under half a billion pounds with no assets delivered. Was there any value to the public that can be carried forward from the work that was done on these schemes prior to cancellati…”

“Duncan, just returning to something you said a few moments ago about worker fatalities—I should probably also draw attention to fact that I am a member of Unite the Union—am I right in saying that the group of workers that have seen the most notable increase in fatalities is among third party contractors? I would just …”

“Forgive me, the question was, have any third party contractors been disbarred from future work on safety grounds within the last five years?”

“Moving on to the historic real estate, which was transferred to, or inherited by, National Highways in 2013. The ORR has drawn attention to the fact that capital funding for this budget line has been reduced to zero for RIS3 and revenue funding has been reduced between the draft and the final version from £20 million t…”

“Just on that database work that you mentioned, this is a project that has started. Are you able to give any indication of when that might be going live?”

“For the record, it was Birmingham City Council that was at fault not yourselves.”

“What are the changes that the DFT has made in terms of this?”

“In terms of the value that can be taken from the experience, does the work that was undertaken on those particular schemes provide any future benefit to National Highways or, indeed, the public?”

“Please forgive the question, but why would the Treasury wish to meet and have discussions directly without the DFT in the room?”