(2) which Minister in his Department is responsible for policy in relation to the allocation of central funding for regional transport programmes;
(3) what criteria his Department uses to determine its funding allocations in respect of regional transport programmes.
My responsibilities include decisions on transport funding for cities and regional networks. Most such funding outside London is distributed to local authorities on the basis of advice received from regions.
Guidance to regions on preparing regional funding advice was most recently issued in July 2008, and is available at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/regional_funding_advice300708.pdf
This sets out both the general criteria for advice across all the functions covered and the specific transport considerations to be taken into account. The guidance also includes at Annex E the formulae which have been agreed to distribute available funding between regions.
Since submitting advice in spring 2009, regions have been invited to undertake a number of further transport studies to influence decisions on investment from 2014 onwards. Guidance on the study programme was issued in July 2009 and is available at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/strategy/dasts/guidance/