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Dept for Transport

Answer

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent on providing improved access to transport for disabled people on (a) buses and (b) the rail network in (i) England and (ii) Leicester South in each year since 1997. [224279] Charlotte Atkins: Regulations introduced under Part 5 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) require that all new public service vehicles used on local and scheduled service with a carrying capacity of more than 22 passengers, and all new rail vehicles, have to be accessible to disabled people. In addition, duties under Part 3 of the DDA require service providers to take reasonable steps to provide access to transport infrastructure such as bus and railway stations. Prior to July 2000 the Government provided funding to improve access to public transport through the Transport Policies and Programme (TPP) system. Local authorities were allocated funding for individual schemes on an annual basis. This system was replaced by the Local Transport Plan (LTP) process which takes a more strategic approach. Local transport authorities in England outside London produce 5-year LTPs, and report on progress against these plans in Annual Progress Reports (APRs). The first 5-year plans were submitted in 2000. The following table details the funding for bus grant schemes since their introduction in the 1998-99 financial year, allocated nationally and to the Central Leicestershire Local Transport Plan area, which includes Leicester, South. Decisions on how to target funding towards specific projects and initiatives such as those to improve public transport accessibility are made at local level. Targeted bus grants1 £ million _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Nationally Leicester, South (Central Leicestershire) local authority 1998-99 43.7 0.63 1999-2000 49.3 0.56 2000-01 53.7 2.18 2001-02 77.3 1.84 2002-03 85.7 0.81 2003-04 88.4 0.92 2004-05 51.0 0.85 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Includes Rural Bus Subsidy Grant and both Rural and Urban Bus challenge funding On access to the rail network, I announced on the 22 March a £370 million Access for All Fund for improving the accessibility of railway stations. The SRA is currently consulting on their Disability Strategy and the outcome will determine how best to spend this extra money. In addition, by the end of this year more than 4,000 new fully accessible rail vehicles will have been introduced onto the network since 1997 at a cost of £4.2 billion. I note that many of these new trains serve Leicester station.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c1190-1W; 224279

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Access Disability Bus services Finance Public transport Railways

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk