To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much money the Government have provided in grants to British Rail in each of the last five years and for what purposes, at current prices.

Figures for Government support paid to the British Railways Board are given in the table. They include both the public service obligation grant under EC regulation 1191/69 and section 3 of the Railways Act 1974, which compensates BR for maintaining loss-making passenger services on Network SouthEast and provincial (InterCity services were removed from the obligation on 1 April 1988), and level crossings grant under EC regulation 1192/69. Final claims have yet to be agreed for the years 1988–89 and 1989–90.