MPs have called England's local roads a ‘national embarrassment' and accused the Department for Transport (DfT) of not taking its responsibility for the issue seriously enough.

A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry concluded that the DfT had insufficient knowledge of the state of local roads after the department said their condition was ‘stable' despite rising levels of pothole-related incidents in recent years, falling public satisfaction and industry estimates that the situation was worsening.

The PAC found the DfT did not know how councils spend the more than £1bn a year it provides for local roads maintenance and criticised its short-term approach to funding, which the department itself admitted was ‘not best value for money'.

It said providing funding on an annual basis was likely to have pushed councils to focus more on reactive repairs than preventative work.