HC Deb 16 July 2001 vol 372 cc13-4W
Mr. Syms

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much money will be invested in the Urban Bus Challenge Fund in each of the next 10 years. [3427]

Ms Keeble

Provision for the Urban Bus Challenge in the current three-year spending review period is as follows:

Year £million
2001–02 8
2002–03 18
2003–04 20

As part of the next Spending Review, which is due to be completed in the summer of 2002, provision for this scheme for 2003–04 will be confirmed, and provision agreed for 2004–05 and 2005–06. Provision for the remaining years of the 10-year Transport Plan (2006–07 to 2010–11) will be considered in the forthcoming review of the plan and in future Government Spending Reviews.

Mr. Syms

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the extent to which bus passenger journeys outside London will change in the next 10 years. [3428]

Ms Keeble

Our assumption in the 10-year Transport Plan is that the measures, taken as a whole, would make achievable our target of a 10 per cent. increase in bus use nationally over 10 years. No separate estimates were made of the position outside London.

Mr. Syms

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what progress has been made towards extending the rural bus subsidy grant to cover more journeys serving market towns. [3458]

Ms Keeble

The White Paper "Our Countryside: The Future" last November announced our intention to extend the eligibility criteria for Rural Bus Subsidy Grant to allow for the support of services operating in and around towns of up to 25,000 (compared with 10,000 previously). We have already implemented that change to the rules from 1 April this year. We have also increased the funding available this year to £41.5 million, with further increases planned for the next two years. It is for the local authority to decide which particular services to support using these additional resources and we have given them some flexibility to fund existing as well as new services.