Mr. Jonathan Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the repair bill for the cracked whisper road surface of the A428in Bedfordshire which was laid when owned by the Highways Agency will be met by Central Government. [83142]Mr. Jamieson: The A428 in Bedfordshire was detrunked on 1 September 2001. At that time no specific road maintenance work (other thanroutine) had been identified by the Highways Agency in their forward programme and this was agreed with Bedfordshire County Council.Funds have been provided for minor maintenance and routine works for the remainder of 2001-02 and for routine works in 2002-03.There have been no requests from Bedfordshire County Council for additional funding. Any maintenance or improvement works that havebeen identified by the Council since they became the Highway Authority for the A428 should be included in their annual LocalTransport Plan updates.