To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport with reference to proposals contained in the Building Britain’s Future document, Cm 7654, how much funding his Department proposes to provide for (a) electrification of the railways, (b) a North-South high-speed rail line, (c) incentives for the take-up of low carbon buses and (d) a National Cycle Plan in the next five years; and when he expects such funding to be made available. (288188)

The work electrifying the railways will be taken forward by Network Rail. Their costs will be added to their Regulated Asset Base, and reimbursed through Track Access Charges and Network Grant determined, in the usual way, by as part of the regulatory review process run by the Office of Rail Regulation.

“High Speed Two”, the company set up by the Secretary of State for Transport to advise on the development of new high speed rail lines, has been asked to report by the end of the year on the planning, technological, capacity, value for money and funding issues involved. The Government will decide on future work programmes and funding mechanisms in the light of that advice.

In the meantime, HS2 has been allocated a budget of some £7.1 million for the current year.

We have announced a £30 million fund to support the purchase of new low carbon buses in England, available over the current financial year and next financial year. In addition, bus operators are now eligible to receive an extra payment through Bus Service Operators’ Grant of 6p per kilometre for services operated by a low carbon bus.

The forthcoming National Cycle Plan will set out the overall future strategy for cycling. Cycling England’s existing budget is £60 million in each of 2009-10 and 2010-11. In addition, the Secretary of State announced in July that a further £5 million would be available to pay for cycle improvements at railway stations.

Detailed decisions on funding for these areas in later years will be made when the Department’s overall budget is allocated as part of normal Government-wide processes.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2009, Official Report, column 375W, on transport: finance, what his most recent estimate is of the levels of spending on transport in the period up to 2017 in respect of the commitment to double spending on transport in the period 1997 to 2017 set out in the answer. (288216)

“Comprehensive Spending Review 2007—Meeting the Aspirations of the British People” (Cm 7227) announced a long-term funding guideline for public spending by the Department for Transport, with £19.7 billion spending in 2017-18.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2009, Official Report, column 375W, on transport: finance, what his most recent estimate is of the projected levels of long-term funding for his Department in order to provide for the 2.25 per cent. real growth in the Long-Term Funding Guideline to 2018-19 set out in the answer. (288217)

The annual figures for the long-term funding guideline for transport announced in “Comprehensive Spending Review 2007—Meeting the Aspirations of the British People” (Cm 7227) for the years beyond the current spending review period, were as set out in the following table.