On being offered the job of Minister of Transport – the first woman to ever hold that job – by Prime Minister Harold Wilson on 21 December 1965, Barbara Castle recorded in her diary that the Prime Minister had said to her: "Ring me in the morning. And for God's sake say yes. I must have a tiger in my transport policy and you are the only tiger we've got". [The Castle Diaries, 1964-1976, Papermac, 1990]
In her time as Transport Minister, Barbara Castle made widespread change including overseeing the introduction of speed limits, as well as legislating for breathalyser tests and compulsory seat belts. It is not difficult to imagine how Barbara Castle might have felt – walking into a policy area that had traditionally been considered 'male realm'. Things are not so different today. But they are changing.
The Highways Monitor Team – part of the Office of Rail and Road – is currently made up of eighteen people: seven of whom are women. That is not a bad ratio, given the underrepresentation of women in roads-related occupations and sectors.
For example, it was reported last year that only 20% of the transport and logistics workforce is female, which is less than half the average of 47% across the entire UK workforce; the figure for women in land transport is only 14%, while only 1% of truck drivers are women. [Returnloads figures, reported in eVolution, 5 March 2021]
But we can do better.
The Highways Monitor is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the performance and efficiency of National Highways – the publicly-owned company that maintains, renews, operates and aims to improve the strategic road network (the motorways and main 'A' roads in England).
We are employed in a variety of roles across the team from finance to policy, from team support to strategic road programmes. And we have a female deputy director, steering our overall strategy.
Our team members explain below their roles and backgrounds.
I joined ORR from the Competition and Markets Authority in 2019. I coordinate the finance and administration for the team, including secretariat to the Highways Committee. I also organise the Highways Monitor team's attendance at conferences such as Highways UK.
After studying to become a chartered accountant I joined the Highways Monitor as a Financial Analyst in 2019. I assist in the ongoing monitoring of National Highways' financial performance. My work also involves assessing the evidence supporting reported efficiency savings, to meet the KPI achieving efficient delivery.
I joined the Highways team in January 2022. I am part of a new team that will be providing analysis and overview of National Highways at a programme level. My previous roles in transport have been with National Highways, Network Rail and in local government.
I joined the Highways Monitor almost 18 months ago from the House of Commons. I am mainly responsible for the processes and policies we use to satisfy ourselves, Parliament and the public that National Highways is doing what it is supposed to do and where it is not, including how we hold them to account.
I’ve had the opportunity to be part of both the rail and roads teams at ORR, with my roles in each sector giving me the chance to engage with a range of individuals to understand Network Rail’s and National Highways’ performance and delivery across a range of areas. It’s great to have an increased female presence across ORR’s Highways team and I look forward to seeing that grow over time across ORR and the road and rail sectors.
Having spent over two years working in ORR on the rail side, I joined the Highways Monitor in a temporary role in October 2021. The move across to the Highways team has given me a fantastic opportunity to see the work the team does, and in my brief time in the role I have had the chance to contribute to key areas of work, including the recruitment of our new Road Expert Panel, and the refresh of our regulatory and escalatory processes.
I joined the Highways Monitor in January 2022 from National Highways. I support the senior performance analyst with the assessment, analysis and continuous monitoring of all the key performance indicators, performance indicators and commitments that National Highways is accountable for in this current road period and looking ahead as to how we can improve the indicators and commitments in the future.
As our team changes and grows over the next few years we hope to see more women considering a job in our sector and in our team at ORR.