Written question asked by David TC Davies (Conservative) on Monday, 9 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 11 October 2006. It was answered by Parmjit Dhanda (Labour) on Thursday, 19 October 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Departmental Expenditure

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department has spent on taxis in the last 12 months.

Answer: Details of expenditure on taxis incurred by the Department over the last 12 months are set out as follows:"1 October 2005 to 30 September 2006—£217,464.15"The expenditure is based on staff travel claims and approved invoices received from taxi companies paid via the Department’s Integrated Financial Information System.The Department’s Integrated Financial Information System for staff travel was a staged introduction; full implementation was not completed until April 2006. Claims made prior to the introduction of the online system are not included in these figures nor is expenditure for taxi fares incurred abroad or claims by staff that do not have access to the online system. To extract this information would involve disproportionate cost.

Secondary information