HC Deb 21 December 1999 vol 341 cc502-3W
Mr. Hayes

To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 8 December 1999,Official Report, column 820, if he will list the total Government-funded investment in the London Underground for each of the last six years and the projection of such funding up to 2001. [102620]

The Prime Minister

[holding answer 13 December 1999]: The Government provide funding to London Transport (LT) for investment. LT allocates this grant to its businesses including London Underground Ltd.

The previous Government planned to provide a grant of £161 million (cash) to London Transport for this year (1999–2000). We increased it by nearly £600 million to £740 million.

The following table shows investment in the London Underground between 1979 and 2000–2001.

Investment in LUL between 1979 and 2000–01
(all figures £ million at 1998–99 prices)
Year Underground core PFI Underground excl. JLE JLE Total incl. JLE
1979 178 178 178
1980 180 180 180
1981 192 192 192
1982 162 162 162
1983 208 208 208
1984–85 264 264 264
1985–86 244 244 244
1986–87 283 283 283
1987–88 334 334 334
1988–89 303 303 303
1989–90 421 421 421
1990–91 526 526 52 579
1991–92 357 357 74 431
1992–93 732 732 78 810
1993–94 548 548 288 835
1994–95 563 563 413 976
1995–96 525 123 648 636 1,284
1996–97 389 145 534 689 1,223
1997–98 332 165 497 487 984
1998–99 415 53 468 283 751
1999–20001 343 175 518 265 783
2000–011 366 143 509 207 717
1 1999–2000 and 2000–01 figures are forecasts of investment in London Underground.

Note:

The PFI figures are not estimates of what the private sector is investing in London Transport. Includes London Transport's estimates of what investment in PH projects would have cost had LT done the investment themselves.

Mr. Hayes

To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer of 8 December 1999,Official Report, column 820, what the factual basis was for his statement that the Government are investing more in the London Underground than the last Government. [102619]

The Prime Minister

[holding answer 13 December 1999]: The Government provide funding to London Transport (LT) for investment. LT allocates this grant to its businesses including London Underground Ltd. (LUL).

The previous Government planned to provide a grant of £161 million (cash) to London Transport for this year (1999–2000). We increased it by nearly £600 million to £740 million.

The following table shows average investment during the periods 1979–1996/97 and between 1997–98 and 2000–01. This shows that on average, investment in the Underground, including or excluding JLE and PFI during the latter period was higher than between 1979 and 1996–97.

Average investment in the Underground
(all figures are £ million at 1998–99 prices)
1979 to1996–97 1997–98 to 2001–011
Core Underground 356 364
Core Underground plus PFI2 investment 371 498
Core Underground plus PFI2 investment plus JLE 495 809
1 1999–2000 and beyond include forecasts of investment in London Underground.
1Includes London Transport's estimates of what investment in PFI projects would have cost had LT done the investment themselves.