§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what reviews have taken place in the system of allocating funds to local authorities through the transport policies and programmes processing the last five years. [18165]
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§ Mr. NorrisThe TPP system is constantly under review, in order to ensure that within the limits of public expenditure Government resources are targeted where they are most needed and where they give optimum value for money. The main changes that have taken place in the last five years are as follows:
- 1991–92
- Resources transferred from the Department of the Environment's revenue support grant (RSG) system to my Department's transport supplementary grant (TSG) system for the assessment, strengthening, and structural maintenance of bridges.
- Funds were earmarked for the first time in the local transport settlement for road safety schemes.
- 1992–93
- Further resources transferred from RSG for the structural maintenance of principal ("A") roads forming part of the primary route network.
- 1993–94
- Further resources transferred to TSG for structural maintenance of other principal local roads.
- 1994–95
- The package approach to funding local transport infrastructure was introduced.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what monitoring is undertaken by his Department of how those policies contained in the transport policies and programmes documents submitted to his Department by local highway authorities comply with the local authorities' appropriate development plans; [18163]
(2) what monitoring is undertaken by his Department of how those transport policies contained in the transport policies and programme documents submitted to his Department by local highway authorities comply with PPG13. [18162]
§ Mr. NorrisThe guidance we issue to local authorities makes it clear that the proposals they include in their transport policies and programme submissions are expected to be consistent with local structure and development plans, and with the guidance set out in PPG 13. Staff in my Department and in the Government offices for the regions look for evidence of this consistency when they are assessing local authorities' annual submissions.