To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how the £8 billion announced on 18 December 2006 will be allocated to local transport authorities in each year covered by the allocation. (113975)

All the funding is for local transport capital and the £8 billion total is for five financial years (2006-07 to 2010-11). It consists of three funding streams allocated in different ways.

Firstly, funding for integrated transport improvements (approximately £2.9 billion) is being allocated according to three factors:

(i) a formula, which considers local transport pressures;

(ii) the distribution of the equivalent funding in the previous five years (of most importance for the earlier years); and

(iii) the Department for Transport’s classifications of the quality of the forward local transport plans and the delivery of the previous plans.

Secondly, funding for highways capital maintenance (approximately £3.6 billion) is being allocated largely according to a formula which considers pressures for road, bridge and (from 2007-08 onwards) street lighting capital maintenance. A small proportion (less than 10 per cent.) of the funding is being allocated in response to bids from local authorities for specific projects, mainly for strengthening bridges on main roads.

Thirdly, funding for major projects (in almost all cases each costing more than £5 million) is allocated in response to bids from local authorities. For 2007-08 onwards decisions about which projects are funded are being influenced by advice from regional bodies. The exact funding levels for local authority projects depend on the priorities in each region between trunk road and local authority schemes. On the basis of the previous distribution, £2 billion to £2.5 billion of local authority projects would be funded over the five years.

More details about the allocation process are published on the Department for Transport’s website under the local transport capital settlement 2006 heading at www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_localtrans/documents/divisionhomepage/032393.hcsp and under the regional funding allocation heading at www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_localtrans/documents/divisionhomepage/039134.hcsp

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the £3 billion announced on 18 December 2006 for the local transport capital settlement includes the £1.6 billion from the previous year. (113976)

The £3 billion of funding announced on 18 December 2006 does not include the £1.6 billion settlement made for 2006-07.

The £3 billion consists of:

(i) allocations totalling £1.254 billion for 2007-08 to support integrated transport improvements and highways capital maintenance; and

(ii) indicative allocations for integrated transport totalling just short of £1.8 billion for 2008-09 to 2010-11.