asked the Secretary of State for Transport, in the light of the fact that it has been announced by Her Majesty's Government that concessionary travel schemes attract rate support grant at a rate of 61 per cent., why many local authorities are this year receiving a level of grant at a rate of 35 per cent.

Expenditure on concessionary fares is relevant for rate support grant. The Government currently finance 61 per cent. of local authorities' aggregate relevant expenditure but the grant is not earmarked for particular purposes. It is distributed according to each area's needs and resources and the proportion of grant to expenditure varies between authorities.