OFFICIAL
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 4DR
Tel: 0300 330 3000
Wai Yau
Web Site: www.gov.uk/dft
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our Ref: FOI-00034339
21/02/2025
Dear Wai Yau
Freedom of Information Act request – 00034339
Thank you for your information request dated 21/02/2025.
Case summary is: 1. A list of the top 10 projects with the highest Benefit-Cost Ratios (BCRs)
that have been approved by the Department for Transport in the northern areas of England,
defined as the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and Humber regions, and approved
between 2015 and 2024.
For each project, please provide:
Project name
Location (region or specific area)
Mode of transport (e.g., road, rail, airport, etc.)
BCR value
Date of approval
2. A list of the top 5 airport projects regardless of location with the highest BCRs that have
been approved by the Department for Transport between 2015 and 2024. For each project,
please provide:
Project name
Location (region or specific area)
BCR value
Date of approval
Response
Please find our response below
Part 1:
OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL
Thank you for your query regarding the Benefit-Cost Ratios (BCRs) of transport projects
approved by the Department for Transport (DfT) between 2015 and 2024.
Part 1: We regret to inform you that the information requested is not held centrally and much of it
would be unavailable. Conducting an exercise to obtain this information, where it does exist,
would breach the proportionate cost threshold set out in the Freedom of Information Act
2000.
To provide context, we have previously estimated resource costs for producing similar value
for money-related information for schemes included in the Department for Transport Value for
Money Indicator Report. This report covers a smaller set of schemes than those referenced
in your request—only those that received Ministerial Approval in the previous calendar year.
We estimated that collecting this data annually going forward would require approximately 1-
2 weeks of work for three Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) (2 Grade 7s and 1 Higher Executive
Officer). This equates to 3-6 weeks of FTE for the yearly report. The process would involve
engaging with teams across the department, producing the analysis, and conducting quality
assurance.
Providing the information for the larger set of schemes and for a longer time period, as
requested, would be significantly more resource-intensive. Therefore, the effort significantly
exceeds the 24-hour cost threshold set out in Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000.
Additional Information:
While we are unable to provide the specific information requested, you may find the following
summary of the Department for Transport Value for Money Indicator Schemes (2017-2019) in
Yorkshire and Humber to be of interest (links below):
Value for money indicator 2019 - GOV.UK
Value for money indicator 2018 - GOV.UK
Value for money indicator 2017 - GOV.UK
Summary of DfT Value for Money Indicator Schemes (2017-2019) in Yorkshire and
Humber:
•
2019:
o No projects explicitly identified as being in Yorkshire and Humber in the 2019
report.
•
2018:
o East Coast Main Line Enhancements Programme – £815m (High VfM). This
line runs through Yorkshire, meaning this investment improves services in the
region.
o Transport for the North Smart Ticketing Phase 2 – £5m (Low VfM). Transport
for the North oversees regional transport improvements, so this project is
relevant to Yorkshire and Humber.
•
2017:
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o Midland Mainline Key Output (Electrification Enhancement) – £155m (Very High
VfM). This project involves electrification enhancements to the Midland
Mainline, which serves Yorkshire, including Sheffield.
National-level funding that may benefit Yorkshire and Humber:
Between 2017 and 2019, several national-level funds likely benefited Yorkshire and Humber,
including:
• Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund and National Productivity Investment Fund
(2017) for road improvements and congestion relief.
• Transforming Cities Fund (2018-2019) to enhance urban transport in selected cities.
• National Cycle Network Upgrades (2019) for cycling infrastructure improvements.
While these funds were not region-specific, they contributed to wider infrastructure and
transport upgrades across the country, including Yorkshire.
Note: The Value for Money (VfM) category is a related but distinct concept to BCRs as it can also
include non-monetised impacts, certain monetised impacts, and uncertainties.
Part 2:
The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested. The aviation industry
is a private sector led market with airports directly responsible for funding, appraising, and
publishing any information on the investment schemes they plan to take forwards. Benefit
Cost Ratios are used by the department to inform value for money assessments of public
investment in transport schemes, and are not applicable in this case. While the merits of any
airport scheme will be assessed during the planning process, this does not generate BCRs.
While we recognise that Section 16 of the FOI Act places a statutory obligation upon the
Department to provide advice and assistance, as far as is would be reasonable for us to do
so, to help you reframe or refine your request with a view to bringing it within the costs limit,
in this instance, it is very difficult to provide any meaningful advice on how you may refine
your request. This is primarily due to the fact that the information is not stored centrally and
the staff time that would be expended in trying to comply with even the smallest of
parameters would exceed the costs threshold.
Appeals procedure
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have responded to or handled your request, you have
the right to ask for an internal review. These should be submitted within two calendar months
of the date of this letter and addressed to the FOI Advice Team at
FOI-Advice-Team-
xxx@xxx.xxx.xx.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you ask for an internal review and are still not content with the outcome, you have the right
to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information
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Commissioner can be contacted via their online form:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-
and-eir-complaints/foi-and-eir-complaints/
Yours sincerely,
OFFICIAL
