Mr. Gilmourasked the Minister of Transport what local government expenditure has been for maintenance of roads in each of the years 1963–64 to 1967–68.
§ Mr. Carmichael:Separate figures of maintenance expenditure are not available but local authority expenditure in Great Britain on maintenance and minor improvement of roads up to 1966–67 was as follows:
£ million 1963–64 69.0 1964–65 72.2 1965–66 77.7 1966–67 84.0 A comparable figure for 1967–68 is not available.
Mr. Gilmourasked the Minister of Transport what was the Government expenditure for maintenance of roads in each of the years 1963–64 to 1967–68.
§ Mr. CarmichaelSeparate figures of maintenance expenditure are not available for the years up to and including 1966–67. Exchequer expenditure in Great Britain on maintenance and minor improvement of roads including grants to local authorities, was as follows:
£ million 1963–64 54.6 1964–65 53.7 1965–66 56.6 1966–67 62.5 A comparable estimate of expenditure in 1967–68 is not available because specific Exchequer grants are no longer payable for maintenance on any type of local authority road following the introduction of the rate support grant, and because the new definition of "maintenance" which applies from 1st April, 1967 does not include a number of types of work which were previously included in "mainte- 44W nance and minor improvements". It is expected that Exchequer expenditure on the maintenance of motorways and trunk roads in 1967–68 will be between£16 million and£17 million.