18 The Department did well to start preparations for the spending review early and to take steps to improve and challenge the evidence on which it based its decisions, with a view to securing value for money. This was done in a short timescale and with limited flexibility over key areas of spending. At the time of the spending review, the Department had elements of a strategic vision but there was no comprehensive strategy for prioritising resources based on a full understanding of costs and value. Without this we believe the Department cannot guarantee that its decisions will achieve value for money.
19 In terms of the decisions it took to reduce costs, there are risks to value for money: reductions to road maintenance may not be sustainable without deterioration in asset quality; and reductions in rail budgets depend on successful negotiations with third parties. Securing value for money in future depends on the Department's ongoing work to develop a longer-term approach to transport planning, and to consider further reforms to allow the transport system to operate effectively at lower levels of funding.