§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish in the Official Report a table of the payments made from public funds to British Rail in respect of unremunerative services, breaking this down for each year since 1960, and also, as far as is practicable, identifying the sums paid to the British Railways Board in respect of each of the branch lines towards whose continued operation passenger services grant has been contributed.
§ Mr. David HowellGrants for unremunerative passenger services were introduced by the Transport Act 1968 and central and local government grants were paid under the Act as follows:
£ million Outturn prices 1969 61.3 1970 61.8 1971 64.2 1972 72.2 1973 91.6 1974 151.6 From 1 January 1975 grants have been paid as follows on the basis of a public service obligation applying to railway passenger services as a whole under the Railways Act 1974:
£ million Outturn prices 1975 314.7 1976 324.2 1977 361.3 1978 428.5 1979 530.5 1980 632.4 1981 809.5 1982 *884.0 * Estimate for whole year. Because of the change in the basis of payment, and of the financial reconstruction of British Rail effective from 1 January 1975, the two groups of figures are not comparable. Information on individual services is not available from 1975 onwards.