The Highways Agency is responsible for England's strategic road network, a network that consists of 9400 km (5481 miles) of motorways and trunk roads and carries a third of all road traffic and two-thirds of all freight traffic in the country. This equates to an annual total of around 153 billion kilometers traveled. As an Executive Agency for the Department for Transport the Highways Agency priorities are to:
Continue to maintain the network in good condition to ensure that it is safe and available for use.
Maximize performance from the existing network.
Improve the network where necessary.
At the end of the 1990s the UK Cabinet Office introduced a Better Quality Services Review (BQSR) program in response to the Government's white paper 'Modernising Government'. As part of that program the Highways Agency undertook a review of the performance of its activities with a view to considering one of five options:
Abolition
Market testing
Contracting out
Privatization or
Internal improvement
The Highways Agency Management Board realized the potential of the BQSR proposals, particularly the opportunity to incorporate a long held policy to improve the management and operation of the organization. The first step was to set up a small team to consider how such a program could be delivered and by April 1999 this 'Business Improvement Team' presented a paper to the board detailing a potential improvement strategy, which linked the need to implement a program of better quality service reviews to a structured approach to improving the business.
The proposed BQSR program was authorized by the Highways Agency Management Board and was due for completion in April 2004. Alongside the authorization of the program the board approved the establishment of a Business Improvement Co-ordinator in each of its 23 divisions. This role was to be supported by the Business Improvement Team who were charged with facilitating program delivery.