§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish the total of revenue subsidy given to(a)London Underground, (b)London Buses, (c)Network SouthEast and (d)British Rail in each year from 1980–81 to 1994–95 (estimated), showing the financing sources for such subsidy in each year.
§ Mr. FreemanGovernment grant is not paid separately to London Underground and London Buses. London Transport makes a claim for block grant each year on the basis of the external financing limit announced in the previous year's autumn statement. It is not possible, in advance of the claim, to apportion the grant for future years between revenue and capital. Over the next three years, Government grant to LT will be about £3.7 billion.
Subsidy is paid by the Government to the British Railways Board in the form of the public service obligation grant under EC regulation 1191/69 and section 3 of the Railways Act 1974, which compensates BR for maintaining loss-making passenger services. Grant is paid as a total to the board and the Government do not formally allocate it between sectors or geographical areas. However, estimates on the split for future grant allocations are now produced by the Department of Transport. Previous figures for NSE have been produced by BR in its document "Network Factfile 1991". The table shows BR's and NSE's PSO grant and LT revenue grant.
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1990–91 prices (£000m) PSO grant PSO (NSE) grant LT revenue grant 1980 1,039 n.a. 4166 1981 1,231 n.a. 4135 1982 1,249 1471 4286 1983 1,250 1359 4257 1984–85 1,487 1326 208
PSO grant PSO (NSE) grant LT revenue grant 1985–86 1,085 165 166 1986–87 883 1184 85 1987–88 925 1214 56 1988–89 606 1141 44 1989–90 541 192 51 1990–91 600 1153 84 31991–92 850 325 5114 31992–9 3 900 350 — 31993–94 700 275 — 31994–95 500 75 — 1 Source:NSE document "Network Factfile 1991". 2 1984–85 was a 15-month period. The figure quoted is the 12-month equivalent. 3 Estimates—source: Department of Transport Report 1992. 4 LT was the responsibility of GLC in these years. 5 Forecast outturn.