§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton on 3 May (WA 178–179) regarding the policy of less priority being given to the funding of public transport in Northern Ireland compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, when and why that policy decision was taken. [HL2660]
§ The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Lord Falconer of Thoroton)The current Government's spending priorities throughtout the United Kingdom were determined in the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review. At the conculsion of the Review, Northern Ireland Office Ministers decided, when allocating resources in Northern Ireland, to give top priority to health, education and law and order services. Spending priorities for the three years from 2001/2002 will be a matter for the Executive Committee to consider in the current Spending Review 2000 exercise.
By convention, Ministers cannot comment on the reasons why particular spending decisions were taken by previous governments.