Written question asked by Lord Whitehead (Labour) on Monday, 7 July 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 9 July 2008. It was answered by Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour) on Thursday, 10 July 2008 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Freight Facilities Grant

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans she has to increase the availability and accessibility of the Freight Facilities Grant to potential applicants.

Answer: The Department has recently announced a budget for the Freight Facilities Grant in the amount of £21 million over the next three years which should give potential applicants some assurance over the future availability of funding.We will also shortly be running a campaign to publicise the FFG scheme to encourage more applications. A new leaflet has been produced, which will be mailshot to potential applicants and the new Freight Best Practice contract which was awarded to Faber Maunsel on 1 July 2008, will require them to market grants direct to businesses.We are also looking at ways to simplify the application process—including a redesign of the application form to make it easier to use—to encourage more companies to apply for grants.

Secondary information