Public Transport: Hampshire

Sandra Gidley
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his Department has allocated for the purposes of improving public transport in (a) Test Valley Borough and (b) Southampton in the last 12 months.

Mr. Khan
The Department for Transport allocates integrated transport block and highways maintenance funding to local transport authorities for capital investment in transport. Funding provided by the Department to local authorities is not generally ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities, such as the provision of public transport. Spending in Test Valley is a matter for Hampshire county council as local transport authority. The table shows funding support for Hampshire and Southampton in 2008-09:

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|2008-09    |£ million|
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|Hampshire  |30.601   |
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|Southampton|4.158    |
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Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Formula Grant.

In 2008-09 and 2009-10 special grant funding is being provided by the Department for Transport to meet the additional cost of the new, England-wide concessionary bus travel. The allocations made to Test Valley and Southampton for 2008-09 is shown in the table:

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|           |£ million|
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|Southampton|1.059    |
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|Test Valley|0.225    |
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