§ Mr. John H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Transport when he will next attend a meeting of the European Committee of Transport Ministers; and if he is now able to make a statement on the special study on the true comparative costs of road transport against railways within their member countries indicating any conclusions he has reached about the position in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. David HowellI shall answer this question shortly.
§ Mr. John H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will tabulate from information available to him for each European Committee of Transport Minister's country, respectively, the cost of road maintenance and construction, as against revenue from fuel, vehicle and other taxes connected with road transport, and compare the balance with national railway operations.
§ Mrs. ChalkerComparative information on road expenditure and taxation of road users for 1977 was presented in a recent study for the European conference of Ministers of Transport. The figures were:
452W
Country National tax revenue from road fuel duties and annual vehicle taxes Expenditures on Roads Coverage of Expenditure by Taxation Million EUA Million EUA In per cent. Portugal 234 74 316 Ireland 263 122 216 Italy 5,190 2,497 208 United Kingdom 4,968 2,427 205 Spain 1,923 1,069 180 Denmark 801 654 122 France 5,636 4,947 114 W. Germany 9,483 8,454 112 Netherlands 1,686 1,918 88 Sweden 1,270 1,446 88 Belgium 1,222 1,433 85 Switzerland 1,008 1,352 75 Luxembourg 48 78 62 This study does not contain the same information for railways. Figures for railways in EC countries are given in my right hon. Friends reply to another question from my hon. Friend today.