§ Mrs. ShephardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he plans to apply the rural sparsity criteria used to allocate the £50 million rural transport grant to the calculation of standard spending assessments. [47571]
§ Ms ArmstrongStandard spending assessments (SSAs) take account of the population living in wards and enumeration districts in which the density is between 0.5 and 4 persons per hectare, and those in which the density is less than 0.5 per hectare, with the latter being given a double weight. The support for rural public transport takes account of the population living outside built-up areas of 3,000 or more people.
We have no plans to change the measure used in the calculation of SSAs.
§ Mrs. ShephardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what criteria were used to define rural sparsity in the allocation of the £50 million rural transport grant. [47572]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonIn this year's Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced additional spending of £50 million a year for rural public transport in the UK. England's share (under the well-established Barnett formula) is £41.7 million. Of that amount, £4.2 million will be devoted to rural community-based transport schemes, £5 million to a rural bus challenge competition for local authorities later this year, and £32.5 million to local authorities for the subsidy of rural bus services.
Under Special Grant proposals now laid before the House, the £32.5 million will be distributed in proportion to the rural population in each eligible local authority area. 'Rural population' is defined as those living outside built-up areas of 3,000 people or more as shown by the 1991 census.