To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is Government policy on assistance for further light rapid transit systems.

We are prepared to grant-aid worthwhile light rail schemes subject to the availability of resources. In the past two years we have approved Manchester metro link at £120 million and South Yorkshire supertram at £230 million.

Will my hon. Friend bear in mind the considerable benefits that will accrue to my constituents and the many other people who live in the greater Nottingham area from a Nottingham LRT? Will he also bear in mind that the project being developed there represents genuine participation between the private and the public sectors, which deserves full Government support, not only after a Bill is put before the House but, before that, during the project's development?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. We welcome the participation of the private sector in transport schemes—for example, the docklands light railway and the Jubilee line. The light rail schemes, in Nottingham and Bristol, are to be welcomed. They ensure that projects funded by the public purse are much more likely to proceed.

Given the Secretary of State's recent and much-publicised conversion to the principle of support for public transport, particularly rail, would it not be a good idea for him to implement what are at present only ideas and give the go ahead to the midland metro? That would contribute enormously to the reduction of congestion in the Birmingham-West Bromwich-Wolverhampton corridor.

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's support for that scheme. His views sit uncomfortably with those expressed by his colleague, the shadow spokesman for transport, on light rail schemes in general. The Government believe that once exercises are concluded on sensible propositions—including, on the face of it, the one for the west midlands—and if resources are available, they will be funded.