To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had with the European Commission on the work of the CURACAO User Group; whether she has allocated resources to the project in relation to road pricing schemes; what discussions she has had with the project on advice to local authorities on road pricing; what assessment she has made of the contribution of the project to the development of proposals for road pricing schemes in England; and if she will make a statement. (206343)

CURACAO is a European Commission funded project which aims to co-ordinate research and monitor the results of the implementation of road user charging as a demand management tool in urban areas. The Department has had no direct contact with the Commission about the project, nor allocated funding, but officials have provided some input to the project at a technical level to ITS (university of Leeds) and Transport Travel and Research, two of the three UK-based project partners in CURACAO. The Department has had no discussions with them on our advice to local authorities and has made no assessment of the project.