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Written question asked by Lord Hammond of Runnymede (Conservative) on Monday, 22 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 24 March 2010. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 April 2010 on behalf of the Treasury.

Revenue and Customs: Visits Abroad

Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff at HM Revenue and Customs have visited (a) Barbados, (b) Vanuatu, (c) St. Lucia, (d) Spain, (e) Turkey, (f) Venezuela, (g) New Zealand, (h) Australia, (i) Spain, (j) Cyprus, (k) Jamaica, (l) Malta, (m) Sri Lanka, (n) China, (o) Japan and (p) the United Arab Emirates on official business in each of the last three years; and what the cost was of visits to each destination.
Answer

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff may travel overseas where it is necessary to deliver the Department's objectives, including on fiscal fraud enforcement, enforcement of prohibition and restrictions, and the provision of mutual administrative assistance.Information disaggregated by country is not available, as publication of this information could compromise and prejudice the Department's compliance work.Aggregated information from HMRC's central travel contract on the number of HMRC staff who travelled to any of the countries in question, and the overall cost of air travel and hotel accommodation is set out in the following table.

Number of staff Cost (£)
2007-08 250 244,834
2008-09 282 392,829
April 2009 to December 2009 138 165,664

Information on other travel costs and expenses incurred by HMRC staff while abroad is only available at disproportionate cost.On occasion, for operational reasons, HMRC staff may book their travel through means other than the Department's travel contract. For example, this may be due to the need to travel at short notice, with colleagues from other organisations or to take advantage of special deals for cheaper flight tickets available elsewhere. Information on the number of staff who travelled to the destinations in question, and the expenditure incurred in doing so, having booked travel in this way is available only at disproportionate cost.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
508 c1380-1W; 324344
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Revenue and Customs Visits abroad
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk