To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the value of penalties for late completion of repair works to trunk roads received in the last year.

Penalty charges are payable under lane rental contracts for late completion of major maintenance works. In 1988–89 there were 12 lane rental contracts and, while no penalty charges were incurred by contractors, an estimated £6 million in delay costs to road users were saved when compared with doing the work under conventional contracts, which would have taken longer.