Public Transport
(asked on 30th June 2015) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total amount of capital funding per capita on public transport was in each English region in each of the last five financial years.
The following table shows estimated government capital expenditure on railways and local public transport per head of population in each region of England between 2009/10 and 2013/14, the latest year for which figures are available.
Government capital expenditure on railways and local public transport per head of population | |||||
Region | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
North East | £60 | £65 | £60 | £64 | £73 |
North West | £105 | £119 | £115 | £104 | £118 |
Yorkshire & Humber | £69 | £67 | £77 | £79 | £80 |
East Midlands | £42 | £40 | £53 | £44 | £45 |
West Midlands | £64 | £63 | £66 | £77 | £88 |
East of England | £63 | £60 | £66 | £63 | £66 |
London | £358 | £327 | £288 | £237 | £268 |
South East | £77 | £76 | £68 | £67 | £66 |
South West | £50 | £48 | £43 | £44 | £43 |
England | £113 | £110 | £104 | £96 | £104 |
Source: HMT, ONS | |||||
These estimates are based on the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) published by the Treasury. The methods used to allocate expenditure between countries and regions may be subject to changes over time, so changes from year to year may reflect differences in methodology rather than real changes.
Expenditure is usually allocated between regions on the basis of which regions benefit from the expenditure rather than on the basis of where the expenditure is made. However, it is not always possible to put the value of spending down to certain parts of the country on a ‘who benefits’ basis and this is particularly a problem for spending on motorways and trunk roads (by Highways England) and on the rail network, which two headings together comprise the majority of Department for Transport expenditure. As in previous years, this expenditure is therefore broadly allocated on an ‘in’ basis (i.e. the location where the spending took place) in the Treasury analysis.
It is important to note however that expenditure comparisons on a ‘per-head’ basis (using resident populations) can present a skewed picture of the distribution of benefits for transport generally, and for transport in London particularly. This is because the transport networks in London are routinely used by a very large number of other regions’ residents and it is not just Londoners who are receiving the benefits of the transport expenditure there.
Even allowing for this point, one would also expect London’s ‘per head’ transport expenditure to be higher than the national average. London provides key international travel gateways for the whole of the country. London is also densely populated with different public transport and infrastructure demands – for example London residents comprise around 15% of the population of England, but London accounts for around half of all bus passenger journeys in England, and almost two-thirds of rail journeys in Great Britain.