§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the implications for the bus services of the change effected by the community charge on the method of raising finance for the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority from a precept to a levy on the five west Yorkshire districts; and what assessment has been made of the effect of fixing that levy at grant related expenditure.
§ Mr. PortilloIt is up to the passenger transport authority to decide what level of bus services to provide and what levy to raise to achieve its objectives, in the same way as it decided on the level of services and set an appropriate precept for the present financial year. The districts influence PTA spending policy through their representations on the PTA. The PTA levy is only one of the elements making up total district expenditure, and there is no separate standard spending assessment for PTA services. Instead, districts' standard spending assessments will include an element designed to cover spending on these and other small services.