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 Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 October 2006 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Departmental Expenditure

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much her Department has spent on taxis in the last 12 months.

Answer: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has two contracts with taxi/minicab firms to provide a 24-hour taxi service for staff in London, and to provide a taxi service between Milton Keynes and Hanslope Park, and taxi services for Hanslope Park-based staff for home to office and airport journeys. The estimated annual value of these two contracts was £200,000 and £120,000 respectively.Officers at home and overseas also make ad hoc taxi journeys in the course of their official duties. The FCO does not record expenditure on travel by taxi in the United Kingdom or overseas separately from travel on other forms of surface transport. Figures for the total expenditure on taxi fares could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information