§ 12. Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he will make an up-to-date statement on his proposed capital expenditure on roads and bridges; and state the main proposals and areas.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterIn my statement on 2nd February, I informed the House of the Government expenditure on road construction and improvement which I hope to authorise in the four years from 1955 to 1959, and I gave details of some of the larger schemes. I am unable to add to that statement at present.
§ Mr. WoodburnWhen grants are authorised but not spent during a given year, do they go back to the Treasury to be reissued in the next programme, or is every programme in addition to a previous or the original programme? It is not very clear from the figures.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI cannot answer on that somewhat detailed matter of accounting without notice, but it is very often the case that if I am in a position to authorise a grant and the promoting authority is not in a position to go ahead the grant passes to some other scheme, promoted, perhaps, by some other authority which is in a position to go ahead.