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Road Pricing

: Again, that is an excellent question, which brings me back to the point on which I was intending to conclude. Essentially, the hon. Gentleman asks how we shall deal with the issue of social exclusion, which my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich raised at the start. A congestion charge or road pricing system that created additional opportunities for public transport and for faster public transport might be one way of dealing with social exclusion. That is essentially how the congestion charge in London has dealt with the issue. The Mayor has raised money through the congestion charge. He has used a significant amount of that money to buy buses. He has designed a road network that gives a high degree of bus priority. The general lower level of congestion, the bus priority lanes, the additional buses and the expenditure on other forms of public transport essentially mean that those people who choose not to or who can no longer afford to use their car have cheap, convenient and workable alternatives. That is one way that the social exclusion problem can be dealt with. We must make sure that by doing this we are providing benefits for people. Flexible working is another issue that must be explored. If the highest cost for using a road is between the traditional rush hour of 7 am and 9 am, employers could be encouraged to tell their employees to start any time up to midday and thereby avoid the high price roads. No doubt some employers would refuse to do that and would insist on their employees arriving by 9 am regardless of their personal circumstances. I suspect that such an employer would find it difficult to recruit staff, and would be forced by the market either to increase the wages paid to offset the road costs or to think again about the way forward. That is at least a partial answer to the social exclusion problem. Let me repeat: this will be one of the biggest issues with which we have to grapple. I have not given a complete answer to the problem at all.