Public Transport: Public Expenditure Greg Mulholland To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much direct Government funding has been allocated to public transport schemes in (a) Merseyside, (b) Manchester and (c) West Yorkshire since 2006. Mr. Khan The Department for Transport (DFT) allocates integrated transport block (IT Block) funding to local transport authorities for smaller transport schemes costing less than £5 million. This funding is not ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities, including public transport schemes. Local transport authorities can apply for additional funding for specific major projects. The Government also provide rural bus subsidy grant which helps local authorities to support rural bus services in England. The Department has provided the following funding for the support of public transport schemes in Merseyside, Manchester and West Yorkshire. The figures are £ millions. ----------- |£ million| ----------- | |IT Block|Major schemes|Bus subsidy|Total| ----------- |2008-09 |34.55|0|0.14|34.69| ----------- |2007-08 |36.50|0|0.14|36.64| ----------- |2006-07 |33.02|0|0.14|33.16| ----------- ----------- |£ million| ----------- | |IT Block|Major schemes|Bus subsidy|Total| ----------- |2008-09 |45.71|95.60|0.32|141.63| ----------- |2007-08 |46.38|40.10|0.31|86.79| ----------- |2006-07 |39.91|13.60|0.30|53.81| ----------- ----------- |£ million| ----------- | |IT Block|Major schemes|Bus subsidy|Total| ----------- |2008-09 |29.45|0.50|1.10|31.05| ----------- |2007-08 |27.96|0.70|1.07|29.73| ----------- |2006-07 |28.49|6.30|1.04|35.83| ----------- In addition, the Government subsidise bus services in England through the Department's Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG). BSOG is paid directly to operators of local bus services and funding figures are unavailable by geographic region. Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government's formula grant. DFT funding for rail projects is not available on the basis of local authority boundaries.