§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will state the amount of Government expenditure granted to women's transport needs in(a) percentage and (b) real terms since 1979.
§ Mr. FreemanTransport expenditure for which my Department is responsible for transport for all categories of person. It does not distinguish between the needs of men and women.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what support is open to local authorities from his Department in the form of grants and other aid to enable them to implement improvements to public transport for women's needs.
§ Mr. FreemanIt is for local authorities to decide their own policies on the level of public transport they should support, taking account of local needs and to set budgets accordingly. Funds made available by my Department are not targeted at the needs of specific groups. Women are more frequent users of buses than men and are likely to benefit particularly from improvements to bus services.