Written question asked by Nicholas Brown (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 February 2006. It was answered by Phil Woolas (Labour) on Thursday, 16 February 2006 on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Free Bus Travel

Question: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what alternative methods were considered by his Department to distribute the sum of money allocated to cover the cost of the free bus travel policy announced in the Budget.

Answer: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, added £350 million to revenue Support grant for England in 2006–07 to cover the cost of the free bus travel policy announced as part of his Budget on 16 March. For the purposes of grant distribution, consideration was given to using the existing formula for the lower tier Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services (EPCS) relative needs formula and a number of variants of that. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consulted on and have now adopted a variant of that formula that is reweighted to reflect factors that reflect support for the disabled and the needs of areas where take-up is likely to be highest.

Secondary information