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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost was to his Department for (a) ministerial cars and drivers, (b) taxis, (c) train travel, (d) the use of helicopters, (e) airline tickets and (f) chartered aeroplanes in each year since 1997. [123075] Mr. Rammell: Under the terms of the Framework Document, the responsibility for the provision of ministerial cars and drivers is delegated to the Government Care Despatch Agency. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 13 November 2003, Official Report, column 397W. Expenditure in the UK under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) taxi contracts for each year since 1997 was as follows: £ _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Expenditure 1997-98 152, 442.64 1998-99 226,736.15 1999-2000 329,903.63 2000-01 380,830.36 2001-02 525,026.69 2002-03 499,164.22 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. These figures do not include details of any taxi journeys undertaken by staff outside the scope of the FCO's taxi contracts and for which reimbursement is made through the Department's travel claim system. Expenditure on taxis will also have been incurred by our Missions overseas. Neither of these costs are recorded separately, and it would involve disproportionate cost to identify them. The FCO purchases tickets for rail and air travel through a contract with American Express. Figures for this expenditure are immediately available for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 financial years only, and are as follows: £ _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Rail Air 2001-02 752,364 15,730,892 2002-03 699,569 15,269,677 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. I will write to the hon. Member with the figures for 1997-98 to 2000-01 as soon as they are provided by American Express. However, this data do not include the cost of rail or air journeys booked direct by members of staff and reimbursed through the Department's travel claim system. Direct expenditure on air travel will also have been incurred by our Missions overseas. These costs are not recorded separately, and again it would involve disproportionate cost to identify them. Details of the types of aircraft used by FCO travellers, (i.e. helicopters), are not recorded. Neither does the Department or its contractor centrally maintain information on whether FCO personnel travel by scheduled or chartered flights.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

123075; 413 c1049-50W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Aviation Costs Aircraft Driving Government departments Helicopters Railways Taxis Travel Foreign and Commonwealth Office Official cars

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk