The Department confirmed that it had recently released the standard in September 2024 so that local authorities can use it from 2025–26 on a voluntary basis. The Department told us that it will not make its usage mandatory until the following year, 2026–27. This additional time is to allow 18 C&AG’s Report, para 8 and Figure 6 19 Qq 10, 22, 24, 59 20 Q 59; C&AG’s Report, Figure 10 21 Qq 6, 11- 13 22 Qq 6, 18 23 Qq 6, 11-14 11 local authorities to prepare for the new standard as well as enable the Department to conduct data comparisons as it pilots different technologies for recording road conditions. 24