§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to encourage an increase in the availability of transport in rural areas.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe Transport Act 1985 provided bus operators with the freedom to run services to meet customer needs. Local authorities have powers to subsidise socially necessary services which cannot be provided commercially. In addition, the Act introduced two new grants to encourage rural services. The rural transport development fund, administered by the Development Commission has £1 million a year for innovative projects and it has currently not exhausted the funds available this year. So far, 80 such projects have been approved. Rural bus grant, currently worth 5p per mile, is available to operators running services in rural areas.