Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much per capita funding was spent on transport infrastructure in (a) the North East and (b) London in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Figures on public sector spend per head of population are produced at a regional level as the HMT’s Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) statistics. It is important to understand however significant caveats about the interpretation of these figures for transport spending.

In terms of the regional allocation of spending, the CRA attempts to allocate expenditure on the basis of which region benefits from the spend rather than where it is made. However, it is not always possible to put the value of spending down to certain parts of the country, and this is particularly a problem for spending on motorway and trunk roads and on the railway due to the nature of these transport networks. For example whilst spending on a local hospital is likely to predominantly benefit those who live in that area, and so it is fairly clear which region benefits from the spend, spending on a motorway or railway line in one area will benefit not just those living nearby but also those travelling from many areas across the country. Whilst the Department does try to distribute rail funding across the regions based on which passengers benefit, allocations are inevitably fairly imprecise.

In terms of the calculation of this regional spending on a per capita (i.e. per resident population) basis, the calculation for London does not account for the fact that London has a substantial number of daily commuters and visitors, both domestically and internationally, who will be using and benefitting from the public transport networks and roads in London but who are not residents in London. In particular, as the main international gateway into the country London will also have transport investments which look beyond just the local resident population.

The unique scale and urban density of London by comparison to other parts of the country also means that it is particularly suited to large scale public transport networks.

Taking the above into account, Government expenditure on transport for 2015-16 is shown in the table below.

Table 1. Government expenditure on transport per head of population by region

Source:

HM Treasury Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) 2016

Definitions:

Capital expenditure is usually understood to mean capital formation, net acquisition of land, and expenditure on capital grants. Capital formation is expenditure, net of sales, on fixed assets (such as buildings, vehicles and machinery) and net stock building, and can be measured gross or net of depreciation. Fixed assets are assets that can be used repeatedly to produce goods and services and generally last more than one year.

Current expenditure is spending on items that are consumed in the process of providing public services or, in other words, is recurring spending. This includes, for example, wages and salaries, benefits, and purchasing goods and services.