§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimates he has made of(a) his Department's annual spending on and (b) the annual grant to local authorities for repairs to road bridges for each year since 1985 and in each of the years of the current public expenditure White Paper.
§ Mr. KeyThe figures are:
Year Department of transport Capital expenditure on trunk road structures Local authority expenditure accepted for transport supplementary grant(TSG) £ million £ million 1985–86 7 — 1986–87 37 — 1987–88 51 — 1988–89 31 — 1989–90 66 — 1990–91 87 — 1991–92 120 91 1992–93 116 111 1993–94 129 137 1994–95 150 137 1995–96 155 — 1996–97 155 — Notes:
1. Department of Transport Expenditure on Trunk Road Structures:
- a. figures up to and including 1992–93 are actual outturn expenditure;
- b. the figure for 1993–94 is estimated outturn expenditure;
- c. figures for 1994–95 onwards are planned expenditure by the Highways Agency.
2. Local Authority expenditure accepted for TSG:
- a. grant is paid at a rate of 50% of accepted expenditure;
- b. resources for local authority bridge maintenance were transferred from Revenue Support Grant (RSG—paid by DOE) to TSG in 1991–92. The Department of Transport has no details of allocations to local authorities for this purpose in earlier years;
- c. levels of support for bridges for 1995–96 onwards have not yet been determined.