Written question asked by Philip Davies (Conservative) on Tuesday, 22 July 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 6 October 2008. It was answered by Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour) on Monday, 6 October 2008 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Taxis

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) his Department and (b) its agency spent on taxis in the last financial year for which figures are available.

Answer: All official travel is undertaken in accordance with rules set out in the Department's Staff Guide under Travel and Subsistence and consistent with Civil Service Management Code.The expenditure on taxis by the Department in financial year 2007-08 was £36,359.08. The figure represents expenditure on taxis provided by the Department's contracted agent, black cabs and other taxis in London and elsewhere. In addition, some expenditure on black cabs and taxis is included in general travel and subsistence and cannot be separately identified except at disproportionate cost.The Department's agency, the Royal Parks, does not itemise expenditure on taxi separately on its accounting system and the cost of disaggregating this expenditure manually from the relevant travel claims would be disproportionate to the amount involved.

Secondary information