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SCOTTISH TRANSPORT STATISTICS: No 21

Chapter 11 FINANCE

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter provides information on finance, such as expenditure on transport within Scottish Ministers’ responsibility and on transport controlled by Local Authorities, capital and current expenditure on motorways and trunk roads, government grants for the construction and improvement of harbour facilities, petrol and diesel prices and duties, and average weekly household expenditure on transport.

1.2 It should be noted that almost all the figures in this chapter are expressed in what are referred to as "current", "out-turn" or "cash" prices: no table gives "constant price" figures. Also, in this edition (as in the previous edition), the figures for local authorities’ net revenue expenditure exclude loan charges, whereas the equivalent tables in the 1998 and earlier editions included them.

1.3 The main change in this edition is in the figures for local authority net revenue expenditure. The costs of support services (such as administrative buildings and services such as legal, personnel, accountancy, IT and estates management, which provide support to the departments which are responsible for activities such as road maintenance etc) were previously included within Administration. Support service costs have now been apportioned between the various services. The figures for 1999-2000 and earlier years, which appear in Table 11.1, have been revised accordingly.

2. Main Points

2.1 The provisional estimated total of capital and current expenditure on motorways and trunk roads in 2001-02 was estimated at £163 million, a decrease of 2% over 2000-01, and 34% less than the peak expenditure in recent years of £248 million in 1994-95. Total expenditure on transport within Scottish Ministers' responsibility in 2000-01 was estimated at £378 million, £53 million (16%) more than in the previous year, but £117 million (24%) less than the peak expenditure in recent years of £495 million in 1993-94. (Table 11.1)

2.2 In 2000-01, expenditure on transport controlled by local authorities was £391 million (excluding loan charges). In cash terms, this was 2% more than in 1999-00. Road maintenance (£216 million in 2000-2001) accounted for about half the expenditure in every year (apart from 1996-97). The other main categories of expenditure in 2000-2001 were: contributions to passenger transport (£55 million); road lighting (£44 million); concessionary fares (£40 million) and administration (£30 million). In 2000-2001, the net income from parking charges was £21 million. (Table 11.1)

2.3 Expenditure on the management and maintenance of motorways and trunk roads totalled £118 million in 2000-2001: £59.9 million capital expenditure on structural repairs and £58.5 million current expenditure on maintenance and network management. (These figures do not include spending on construction). £24 million of the total was spent on roads in the area served by the Clyde Premium Unit. (Table 11.2)

2.4 Glasgow City was the local authority with the highest net revenue expenditure on roads and transport in 2000-01: £38.4 million excluding loan charges. Highland spent £26.7 million, South Lanarkshire £25.0 million and Fife £24.4 million. Aberdeenshire and Highland were the local authorities with the highest expenditure on road maintenance (£18.4 million each: Aberdeenshire spent £6.1 on gritting and snow clearing and £12.3 million on other road maintenance; Highland spent £8.5 million on gritting and snow clearing plus £9.9 million on other road maintenance work). Glasgow spent most on road lighting (£8.3 million). Edinburgh raised the largest amount from parking (£9.6 million, net), Glasgow raised £6.7 million and Aberdeen £3.1 million. Glasgow had the highest expenditure on concessionary fares (£5.0 million), followed by Fife (£4.6 million) and Edinburgh (£4.5 million). Glasgow spent most on school crossing patrols (£2.0 million), and Glasgow and Shetland made the largest contributions to passenger transport (£8.9 million and £8.1 million respectively). (Table 11.3)

2.5 Gross capital account expenditure by councils and boards on local authority roads and transport totalled £124.7 million in 2000-01 an increase of 12% from the previous year. Most of this (£100.9 million) was spent on roads, including £16.4 million on roads projects costing under £2 million each, £15.6 million on improvements and reconstruction of major roads costing £2+ million each, £25.9 million on structural maintenance of roads, and £16.1 million on road safety for local roads. A total of £22.8 million was spent on transport other than roads. The amounts spent on some categories vary greatly from year to year — for example, there was only £24,000 expenditure in 2000-01 on bypasses, whereas the £6.2 million spent on piers and ferry terminals was higher than in any of the previous six years. (Table 11.4)

2.6 The local authority with the highest gross capital account expenditure on roads and transport in 2000-01 was Glasgow City (£14.5 million), followed by City of Edinburgh (£12.1 million) and Fife (£10.6 million). Glasgow City spent the most on ‘major’ road projects costing £2+ million each and Dumfries and Galloway spent the most on smaller road projects (£9.2 million and £2.1 million respectively). City of Edinburgh spent the most on roads special projects (£7.6 million). For transport other than roads, the highest spenders were Strathclyde PTA (£6.8 million) and Highland (£5.0 million). (Table 11.5)

2.7 In 2000-01, local government roads and transport trading services revenue income totalled £37.5 million: £12.5 million from road bridges (Forth and Tay only), £10.0 million from ferries, £0.2 million from buses and £14.7 million from other local authority transport undertakings (such as airports, harbours and piers). The main sources of income were £26.6 million from rents, fees and charges and a £10.1 million contribution towards deficiencies from general funds. (Table 11.6)

2.8 Local government roads and transport trading services capital account expenditure totalled £8.6 million in 2000-01. (Table 11.7)

2.9 In 2001-02, government grants for the construction and improvement of harbour facilities totalled £10.4 million. The recipients were Caledonian MacBrayne (£289,000), Highland Council (£1.8 million), Scrabster harbour authority (£3.7 million), Shetland Islands Council (£239,000), Orkney Islands Council (£3.5 million), Lerwick port authority (£872,000) and Tarbet harbour authority (£91,000). (Table 11.8)

2.10 The prices of unleaded petrol and diesel fell between June 2000 and June 2001, after rising in every year from 1991 to 2000 (the fuel price protests were in September 2000). Tax (duty plus VAT) represented about 73% of the price of unleaded petrol and 73% of the price of diesel in Great Britain in June 2001, compared with 63% and 65% respectively in June 1991 and 73% and 74% respectively in June 2000. (Table 11.9)

2.11 Between 1991 and 2001, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rose by 31% from a value of 133.5 (based on 13 January 1987=100) for 1991 to a value of 174.5 for 2001. Most of the Transport components of the RPI increased more rapidly than this, and therefore rose in real terms. In "cash" terms, the costs of petrol and oil rose by 63%, the cost of maintenance of motor vehicles increased by 61%, and there was an 89% rise in the cost of vehicle tax and insurance. Rail fares rose by 54% and bus and coach fares by 50%. However, the cost of purchasing a motor vehicle increased by only 0.6% over the ten years: much more slowly than the overall Retail Prices Index. As a result, the motoring expenditure index rose by 37%, slightly more than the 31% increase in the RPI, so the overall cost of motoring increased in real terms between 1991 and 2001. Over the same period, the overall index of fares and other travel costs rose by 43%, and therefore increased by more than the cost of motoring in real terms. The index of the price of petrol and oil fell from 233.2 for 2000 to 208.8 for 2001 (the year after the fuel price protests in September 2000), having previously risen in every year from 1991 to 2000. (Table 11.10)

3. Notes and Definitions

3.1 Following local government reorganisation on 1 April 1996, the management and maintenance of motorways and other trunk roads was sub-divided into 8 operating units. Details of the areas covered by each of these units can be found in the Annex. These applied for the years from 1996-97 to 2000-01 inclusive: new arrangements were introduced with effect from 2001-02

3.2 Local authority trading services: Those services of a commercial nature which are, or could be, substantially financed by charges made to recipients of the services.

3.3 In a few cases, negative figures are shown in the net expenditure tables. This is due to income/receipts exceeding the expenditure in a particular category. In particular, the apparent zero or negative "expenditure" shown for "Admin" for some local authorities in Table 11.3 is due to the way in which they have accounted for income and expenditure for the purposes of the local government financial statistics returns. Some local authorities did not show any income or expenditure under the "Transport Administration" heading of the statistical return, and so have "0" as their "Admin" expenditure in Table 11.3. Others have shown large amounts of income under the headings which cover income from: (i) other accounts within the authority, including transfers from special funds, and from other local authorities; and (ii) grants from bodies other than the Scottish Executive, and other income not covered elsewhere. Where this exceeds the expenditure remaining under that heading, after the apportionment of the costs of support services (such as administrative buildings and services such as legal, personnel, accountancy, IT and estates management, which provide support to the departments which are responsible for activities such as road maintenance etc), the resulting net expenditure is negative. The statistical returns do not ask local authorities to specify to what such income relates. However, the advice from a few of them is that most of it is amounts that were charged to, or transferred from, other departments within the authority.

3.4 Retail Prices Index: Rail fares are 5 parts per 1,000 (or 0.5%) of the Retail Prices Index. Bus and coach fares are also 5 parts per 1,000 (or 0.5%). 'Motoring costs' accounts for 14.6% of the Retail Prices Index. This breaks down into:

5.8% Purchase of vehicles
2.3% Maintenance of motor vehicles
4.3% Petrol and Oil
2.2% Tax and Insurance.

Car parking charges are included under 'Maintenance of motor vehicles'.

4. Sources

4.1 The statistics in this chapter come from the following sources:

Table 11.1(a)* - the publication "Serving Scotland’s Needs" which details current public expenditure and plans to 2000-01
(* except ‘Local Transport — Capital’ which is obtained from returns made by Councils and boards to The Scottish Executive)
Tables 11.1(b), 11.3 to 11.7 - from returns by Councils and boards to The Scottish Executive
Tables 11.2 - The Scottish Executive Road Network Management and Maintenance Division
Table 11.8 - The Scottish Executive Transport Division 4
Tables 11.9 - the Department of Trade and Industry
Tables 11.10 and 11.11 - the Office for National Statistics

5. Further Information

5.1 For further information on Tables 11.1(a) (Local Transport — Capital), 11.1(b) and 11.3 to 11.7 contact Mrs Margaret Sellar of The Scottish Executive Local Government Finance Statistics branch (tel: 0131 244 7035)

5.2 For further information on Table 11.2 contact Mr Ian Rankin of The Scottish Executive Road Network Management and Maintenance Division (tel: 0131 244 7251)

5.3 For further information on Table 11.8 contact Mrs Mary MacDonald of The Scottish Executive Development Department, Transport Division 4 (tel: 0131 244 0841).

5.4 For further information on Table 11.9 contact Ms Deirdre Taylor, Department of Trade and Industry (tel: 020 7215 2722).

5.5 For further information on Tables 11.10 and 11.11 contact the Office of National Statistics (tel: 020 7533 5874).

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