Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of his Department's capital grants to local authorities have been spent on internal (a) administration and (b) other management costs in each financial year since 2015-16.

In line with the guidance issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, capital grants to local authorities are non-ringfenced, and not subject to any restrictions on how local authorities spend the grant money. However, to ensure capital grants are spent on delivering the schemes for which they are intended, my department requires a declaration to be made by the recipient local authorities that the conditions of each grant have been complied with.