§ 27. Mr. T. Fraserasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware of the inadequacy of many trunk roads for the traffic: they have to carry; and why he has proposed to limit projects of new construction and major improvement on trunk roads in the current year to a cost even less than the actual expenditure incurred last year.
§ Mr. N. MacphersonThis year trunk road schemes amounting to £4½million will be authorised; the comparable figure for last year was £2,347,000. This year it is estimated that payments in respect of work done—mostly on schemes already authorised—will be £3,401,000; actual expenditure last year was £3295,360.
§ Mr. FraserDid not the Joint Under-Secretary say in answer to Question No. 24 that the Government had to take into account, in deciding the amount of money to be made available for classified roads, the amount of money made available for trunk roads? Is he aware that the figures which he gave just now are not quite the same as those shown in the Estimates, which were that Scotland last year had an actual expenditure on the trunk roads of £3,407,000. The Estimate for the coming year is £3,401,000, which shows a reduction of £6,000. Meanwhile, in England there has been an increase from £37,650,000 to £50,660,000. I do not think that England is getting too much for trunk roads, but why should there be an increase of £13 million for expenditure on trunk roads in England with no increase at all in Scotland?
§ Mr. MacphersonThe figure the hon. Gentleman quoted was the estimated 1134 figure of £3,407,000. I gave the actual expenditure for last year. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the road programme hae been calculated over a period of four years.