Speeches by Turner.

“We have heard—and I have heard privately—from people who have been engaged on the project that one reason for the high vacancy and turnover rates was culture. People felt that they were prevented from, or could not, escalate and report problems. Do you accept that characterisation?”

“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…”

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

“If a major deficiency is identified or an asset deteriorates quickly, where will the money come from to make the structure safe?”

“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…”

“Why have third party fatalities risen, when that has not happened for the directly employed workforce?”

“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…”

“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?”

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

“In its efficiency review, the ORR said that there had been a substantial escalation in some project costs during RP2. What was the response of the Department during the last road period?”

“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.”

“Essentially it comes down to wider contingency.”

“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 …”

“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…”

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

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

“Finally, we have talked about the relationship between National Highways and the DFT, but what is the Treasury’s role in this? Do you talk to the Treasury directly? I understand that it may be about to take a wider interest in infrastructure costs across the board. Are you engaging with that?”

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

“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?”

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