§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what has been the level(a) of rebate paid by British Rail to the Treasury for each year it has been paid since 1965, and (b) of British Rail capital investments for each of those years; and what are the estimated figures for (a) and (b) for next year.
§ Mr. WattsBetween 1976 and March 1994 British Rail had an annual external finance requirement met by subsidy from the Government in the form of grant and borrowing, mostly from the national loans fund. Since April 1994 the railway industry has continued to receive Government support in the form of grants, but has a different financial structure in which British Rail and Railtrack have negative external finance requirements or external finance contributions, which are used to repay debt to the national loans fund.
The outturn external finance requirements from 1979–80 to 1993–94, external finance limits and contributions for 1994–95 and 1995–96 and figures for capital investment in the railways from 1965, in current prices, are as follows:
Year Investment£ million1994–95 prices 1965 1.396 1966 1.200 1967 976 1968 890 1969 608 1970 702 1971 746 1972 775 1973 777 1974 839 1975 969 1976 946 1977 937 1978 941 1979 967 1980 951 1981 810 1982 695 1983 767 1984–851 786 1985–86 855 1986–87 819 1987–88 993 1988–89 977 1989–90 1.119 1990–91 1.216 1991–92 1.442 1992–93 1.552 1993–94 1.188 1994–95 1.000 1 15-month year due to an accounting change from calendar years to financial years. 2 Forecast outturn.
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External Finance Requirements BR/RTEFR£ million 1994–95 prices UR/EPS EFR£ million 1994–95 prices Industry EFR£ million1994–95 prices 1979–80 1791 — 1.791 1980–81 1672 — 1.672 1981–82 1853 — 1.853 1982–83 1528 — 1.528 1983–84 1396 — 1.396 1984–85 1713 — 1.713
External Finance Requirements BR/RT EFR£ million1994–95 prices UR/EPS EFR£ million1994–95 prices Industry EFR£ million1994–95 prices 1985–86 1414 — 1.414 1986–87 1172 — 1.172 1987–88 781 — 781 1988–89 505 — 505 1989–90 811 82 892 1990–91 1065 186 1.251 1991–92 1241 360 1.600 1992–93 1688 481 2.170 1993–94 1054 437 1.490
External Finance limits and contributions BR/RT EFC UR/EPS EFL Grant1 Industry EFL 1994–95 —645 217 1,924 21,496 1995–96 —945 120 1,800 3975 Notes:
1 Estimated grant support to passenger services from 1994–95 includes Franchising Director grant and metropolitan railway grant for PTE services.
2 Industry external finance limit for 1994–95 may increase by a further £64 million to £1,560 million.
3 1995–96 industry external finance limit does not include privatisation effects and includes an estimated £70 million of grant paid by Scottish Office via PTEs to BR.
§ Ms Glenda JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funds he has made available to British Rail as part of the public service obligation in 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, and 1994–95; and what funds he expects to make available to British Rail or any other rail operator to subsidise socially necessary services in 1995–96, 1996–97, and 1997–98.
§ Mr. WattsThe information is as follows:
Public service obligation grant Cash £ million 1994–95 prices £ million 1990–91 602 699 1991–92 892 975 1992–93 1.155 1,214 1993–94 930 949 1994–951 1,700 1.700 1 Estimate of support to passenger services, which from 1994–95 is paid by the Franchising Director. It excludes metropolitan railway grant, estimated to be £224 million, paid by the Department of Transport to passenger transport authorities. In 1995–96 estimated total grant to support passenger services is £1,800 million. Of the £1,800 million, an estimated £1,610 million will be paid by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising to British Rail and franchisees, and £190 million will be paid by the Department of Transport to passenger transport authorities.
Estimates of the level of grant support for 1996–97 and 1997–98 are not yet available.