In the 2023/24 financial year, the government of the United Kingdom spent approximately 26.8 billion British pounds on Railways, compared with 6.1 billion on national roads, six billion on local roads, 4.9 billion on local public transport, and 2.3 billion on other forms of transport.

Public sector spending on roads in the United Kingdom was over ***** billion British pounds in 2023/24, a slight decrease when compared with the previous year. Throughout most of this time period, the amount spent on local roads is consistently higher than that spent on national roads.

Infrastructure in the UK, covering investment, construction activity and capital stocks, up to 2024. These are official statistics in development.

In 2023/24, transport spending in London was 1,313 British pounds per capita, compared with just 368 pounds per head in the East Midlands, indicating a significant regional disparity in public spending on transport.

Infrastructure repair and maintenance contractors are reaping the rewards of increased involvement in infrastructure projects from the private sector and significant government investment. Civil engineering contractors conduct preventive and reactive maintenance work on existing infrastructure in addition to alteration services. The industry is safeguarded from cyclical fluctuations in public-sector spending thanks to the necessity of maintaining national infrastructure, which has supported consistent revenue growth — even in 2020-21 after COVID-19 hit. Over the five years through 2024-25, revenue is expected to swell at a compound annual rate of 5.1% to reach £14.1 billion, despite an estimated 2.6% dip in 2024-25, primarily due to a drop in demand from the electric sector. High government investment in transport infrastructure has created several high-yield maintenance projects, supporting profitability. The industry has also benefitted from a focus on updating ageing utility networks; in particular, innovation within the telecommunication markets has proven a lucrative source of income, with customers increasingly demanding faster and more reliable connectivity. Similarly, the shift towards renewable energy has provided a solid pipeline of maintenance work, including upgrades to the electricity transmission network. The privatised but regulated nature of Britain's utility infrastructure will keep demand in the future, as there's a substantial investment pipeline in place. Over the five years through 2029-30, revenue is slated to climb at a compound annual rate of 1.3% to reach £15 billion. The start of a new rail investment period in 2024 (CP7) and the redirected funds of High Speed 2 towards road maintenance also look set to drive growth. For the seven years between 2025/26 to 2031/32, £4.7 billion has been allocated to the Local Transport Fund (LTF) for the North and Midlands as part of the Network North plan. Although, not all of this funding is earmarked for infrastructure maintenance. High levels of air travel and planned redevelopment work at airports will prop up demand from the aviation sector, driving revenue up even further. Technologically advanced communications and renewable energy markets, including onshore wind projects, will generate high-value contract opportunities in the coming years as contractors continue upgrading existing networks.

Public sector expenditure on water supply in the United Kingdom was **** billion British pounds in the 2023/24 financial year, an increase when compared with the previous financial year. Water supply is a public sector in both Scotland and Northern Ireland, but not in England and Wales where it has been a private sector since 1989.

With roads arguably the most critical infrastructure in the UK, it typically falls on the government to distribute the funds necessary to build and maintain roads. A deep public sector wallet for transport infrastructure has supported substantial road and motorway construction demand. However, tighter spending on maintenance and delays to major projects have restricted growth opportunities. Over the five years through 2024-25, revenue is forecast to climb at a compound annual rate of 1.6% to reach £11 billion. The Road Investment Strategy (RIS) and subsequent RIS2 set out a strong pipeline of publicly funded infrastructure projects. Nonetheless, each of these investment periods has been plagued by project delays, causing a hold-up in the market for new work. Maintenance work has provided steady revenue for smaller contractors, though constrained local authority budgets have left little room for growth. The COVID-19 outbreak exacerbated a lull in activity following the end of RIS projects in 2020-21. The easing of pandemic-related market constraints spurred a rebound in revenue over the two years through 2022-23. The suspension of the smart motorway programme (SMP) and cuts to government spending packages have since caused revenue to tumble, as soaring delivery costs has led to a re-evaluation of project pipelines. Revenue is set to slump by 6.2% in 2024-25. Over the five years through 2029-30, revenue is slated to slide at a compound annual rate of 0.8% to £10.6 billion. Growth prospects have taken a hit following the government’s decision to scrap the SMP and the Stonehenge Tunnel. Following significant delays to RIS2 projects, the budget for road enhancement projects in RIS3 is likely to be limited. Growth is set to be underpinned by work on existing roads, as the UK looks to chip away at a huge maintenance backlog. This will be bolstered by an additional £8.3 billion worth of additional local highways funding from 2023 to 2034.

Ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, investment in infrastructure construction in Western Europe had been gathering pace, increasing at an average of 3.3% a year on 2018-19, having remained stagnant over the previous few years. Amid the COVID-19 crisis and the severe impact that this has had on economies across the region, governments and public authorities will likely be aiming to advance spending on infrastructure projects to reinvigorate the construction industry and the wider economy — investment in infrastructure is generally considered to have a high multiplier effect, with the overall increase in economic value being higher than the value of direct investment itself. Read More

Over the summer of 2013, the Cabinet Office started to develop the processes to support the maintenance of a dynamic NII. We can now launch a first iteration which will be the basis for user feedback and the identification of additional datasets. The processes for defining the NII can be broadly outlined as follows: a) Identifying and maintaining an inventory of data held by government; b) Prioritising data to be included in the NII; and c) Supporting organisations to release data, where possible.

The Cabinet Office has developed an over-arching framework for the NII to be used as a “thinking tool” in engaging with the NII. Without this framework it will be hard to communicate the function and benefits of the NII. The framework combines a high-level categorisation of government data and characteristics of different types of data to provide a framework for the processes and identify early candidates for inclusion in the NII.

The data themes in the framework for the NII relate primarily to characteristics of the organisation which hold the data and also reflect the high level categories of data in the G8 Open Data Charter. Transparency was one of the key three priorities of the recent G8, chaired by the UK where all G8 Leaders signed up to a set of principles specified in an Open Data Charter. G8 members identified 14 high-value areas, jointly regarded as data that will help unlock the economic potential of open data, support and encourage innovation, and provide greater accountability to improve our democracies. The UK has aligned these categories to inform the creation of its NII.

Datasets listed against Transport and Infrastructure include datasets owned and held by government agencies, ALBs and the wider transport industry, reflecting the organisation of information in the sector.

Overlaying these data themes, we have analysed user feedback, ODUG benefits cases, applications and services which successfully use government data, and expert feedback to develop 4 primary uses of data. These are:

a) Location: Geospatial data which can inform mapping and planning. b) Performance and Delivery: Data which shows how effectively public bodies and services are fulfilling their public tasks and the delivery of policy. c) Fiscal: Government spend, procurement and contractual data as well as data about the financial management of public sector activities. This also includes data that government holds about companies which may be of value to users. d) Operational: Data about the operational structure, placement of public service delivery points and the nature of the resources available within each of them.

An excel spreadsheet (register) used to capture core information relating to Capital Expenditure projects supporting development of Dstl's Infrastructure

Public spending on railways in the United Kingdom was approximately 26.8 billion British pounds in 2023/24, compared with 26.5 billion pounds in the previous year. Before 2015/16, railway spending fluctuated between a low of 7.4 billion in 2010/11 and a high of 9.33 billion in 2014/15, before a significant year-on-year increase of 5.46 billion saw spending reach 14.79 billion pounds in 2015/16.

The industry relies on public sector investment towards maintaining and expanding electricity and telecommunications infrastructure. The essential nature of this infrastructure ensures a consistent stream of work repair and maintenance work. At the same time, the government has pumped significant funds into the energy value chain in pursuit of decarbonisation objectives, boosting opportunities in the renewable energy generation market. Over the five years through 2024-25, revenue is slated to fall at a compound annual rate of 2.2% to £7 billion. Contractors have capitalised on significant expansion of the UK's renewable generating capacity in recent years, with contractors required to build renewable assets and connect them to the transmission network. The UK’s ongoing 5G roll-out has supported construction opportunities among telecommunications providers. In 2020-21, the pandemic spurred a slump in revenue as lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions temporarily suspended several non-critical workstreams, reducing output and leading to sub-par productivity. Activity quickly rebounded, aided by the resumption of works delayed by the pandemic and a renewed uptick in renewables funding. This was followed by renewed dip in revenue in 2022-23 owing to a lull in investment and reduced project completions at the start of the RIIO-T2 spend period. Investment in electricity networks has since ramped up, underpinned by more than £30 billion investment committed as part of the RIIO-2 regulation period between 2021 and 2026. Revenue is set to grow by 2.1% in the current year. Revenue is set to climb at a compound annual rate of 5.1% to reach £8.9 billion over the five years through 2029-30. Government commitments to boost the UK's energy independence and achieve decarbonisation targets will add increased impetus to investment in power stations and renewable energy in the coming years. The government has also committed to an accelerated offshore wind and nuclear capacity expansion, with huge amounts of investment required if the UK is to hit lofty targets. Demand for telecommunications construction should pick up as the UK's 5G roll-out continues to gather pace.