§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what assessment he has made of the state of disrepair of principal roads;
(2) what procedure he uses for assessing the state of repair of principal roads.
§ Mr. KeyThe condition of roads in England and Wales is monitored by means of the national road maintenance condition survey. Each year a random sample of some 11,000 100m sites is inspected for the presence of certain pre-defined defects visible at the surface. Results for each 475W road class are expressed as index numbers which allow trends in condition to be monitored. They are published in an annual report, copies of which are available in the Library.