Highways Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2011-2012

Foreword
by the
Chairman
Alan Cook
It is now 18 months since I became the first non-executive chairman
of the Highways Agency, and during that time I have got to know
the Agency and its suppliers well and have been impressed at the
commitment of so many people to deliver a good service to road users
and to the communities we serve.
In my report A Fresh Start for the Strategic Road Network published in
November I reflected on the ability of the Agency to respond quickly
to changing priorities, to the demands placed upon it, and to rapidly
changing funding profiles. I concluded that the Agency is unique as
a civil service organisation in operating a vital national infrastructure
asset. I went on to recommend that the Agency could operate more
effectively and more efficiently if empowered and enabled to act in a
more commercial manner, and I said that it could be more focussed on
the views of its customers and of the communities it serves.
During the course of the year I have developed the existing board,
setting a greater degree of ambition and providing a stronger challenge
on performance to the executive team.
The Agency has performed well during the year, working to make
customers’ journeys more predictable while implementing the significant
measures necessary to deliver maintenance, renewals and improvement
projects within a challenging funding limit. With the basics now in place
to manage within that funding envelope, it is time for the Agency to raise
its ambition.
So I welcome the Secretary of State’s view that the Highways Agency
should strive to become a best in class executive agency. The challenge
is a big one, and will see significant change in how the Agency works,
in the level of professional skills amongst the staff, and in how it works
alongside national government, local government, road users and
suppliers.
Alan Cook CBE
Highways Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12