§ Mr. Haywardasked the Secretary of State for Transport how much public service obligation grant has been paid by central Government to the British Railways Board since 1979.
§ Mr. MooreCumulative payments made by central Government as compensation for the public service obligation imposed by direction under section 3(1) of the Railways Act 1974 for the periods 1979 — 1985–86 amount to £5,358 million. Section S3(4) of the Act, as amended by S2 of the Transport (Finance) Act 1982, sets a cumulative ceiling of £6,000 million on the total of PSO grant payments from 1 January 1979. The current estimate (Class VIII, 3, E1(1)), which was presented to the House last March, makes provision for grant payments £100 million in excess of this limit, consistent with the plans published in January in the public expenditure White Paper (Cmnd. 9702). There is, of course, no question of grant expenditure in excess of the limit until the House has agreed an increase in the statutory ceiling. I intend to lay a draft Order in Council before the House of Commons for this purpose in due course.