§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what grants have been made to British Rail to cover unremunerative passenger services on the Ipswich-Cambridge line for each year since 1968; and what is the present annual loss as calculated under the Cooper Brothers formula.
§ Dr. GilbertGrants have been made as follows:
£ 1968 … … Nil 1969 … … 154,000 1970 … … 184,000 1971 … … 215,000 1972 … … 223,000 1973 … … 293,000 In 1974 this service was included in a group of services based on Ipswich which received a total grant of £1,080,000. From 1st January 1975 grant has been in respect of the operation of the passenger system as a whole and not for specific services. It is no longer possible to calculate costs and earnings on the basis of the Cooper Brothers method which requires a separate system of accounts that the Board no longer keeps.