My Department chaired a steering group overseeing a cross-departmental review of road safety expenditure which examined expenditure incurred over the lifetime of the first road safety strategy 1998-2002. This review seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of all public spending on road safety and, to establish the impact of road safety performance on other areas, such as health and emergency services.
The steering committee consisted of representatives from the Departments of Transport, Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Health and Children, Finance and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The committee for public management research was also represented in order to examine processes and outcomes of the review for future cross-departmental reviews and to provide general expert assistance. The steering group commenced the review in mid-2003 and the consultants engaged to carry out an analysis of identified expenditure submitted their report final report earlier this year. The report has been submitted to the committee for public management research for quality assessment before publication.