[holding answer 9 March 2009]: There are two types of rail freight grants:
revenue support for the operation of rail services; and
capital funding for the construction of freight facilities.
In both cases grants are justified by the environmental benefits of removing lorry traffic from the roads.
Figures in this answer relate to grants awarded by: the Department for Transport; the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR); the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR); and the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).
Revenue support grants fund services that could pass through a number of regions and therefore a region by region breakdown is not possible. The following table gives the budget for revenue grants for each of the past 10 years:
Budget (£ million) 1999-2000 16.7 2000-01 20.0 2001-02 27.0 2002-03 30.0 2003-04 19.6 2004-05 24.5 2005-06 23.9 2006-07 24.5 2007-08 18.5 2008-09 23.3
The allocation shown for 2007-08 and 2008-09 is provided through the Sustainable Distribution Fund. Of this £17 million was provided for rail resource grants in 2007-08 and our current forecasts show £19.4 million likely to be provided in 2008-09.
Capital grants awarded for facilities in regions of England over the past 10 years are shown in the following table. Grants provided for moveable assets are not included as a region cannot be assigned. The benefits of reduced lorry traffic as a result of a grant awarded will generally not be limited to the region in which the facility is located.
Regions 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 East midlands 0 0 1,415,336 0 28,286 0 0 0 Eastern 0 474,046 11,739,061 5,847,844 0 0 0 0 London 1,194,436 2,609,484 6,020,360 0 915,972 1,249,280 1,150,938 1,325,578 North-east 1,695,280 1,068,560 1,582,443 0 0 0 0 0 North-west 6,344,080 7,733,437 2,270,490 1,631,345 0 0 0 0 South-east 0 125,540 2,388,000 0 0 0 0 0 South-west 0 16,163,380 1,470,979 1,061,313 0 0 0 0 West midlands 1,881,600 1,956,690 9,161,079 1,908,256 0 0 65,913 0 Yorkshire and Humberside 0 823,220 1,258,259 6,267,270 0 0 0 0
The SRA suspended the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG) programme for most rail projects in 2003, although grants continued to be available for aggregate-based facilities through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. FFGs were reintroduced for all rail schemes by the Department in April 2007.