§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will give a detailed list of those Ministers and junior Ministers who, in addition to their ministerial and parliamentary salaries, receive extra payments in cash for expenses or other reasons; how many receive the use 555W of cars, houses, flats and the costs of upkeep; and, on the basis of their known public salaries as their taxed earnings, what these extra payments are worth gross on the basis that each recipient is a married man.
§ Mr. Charles R. MorrisAs I have already told my hon. Friend—[Vol. 919, c. 41–2]—Ministers staying away from home on official duty are entitled to certain extra payments, but central records of these are not maintained, and to obtain the information would involve disproportionate cost.
All Ministers may use cars from the Government car service pool. The estimated cost of providing all ministerial cars is £900,000 per annum, but to give a breakdown of that figure for individual Ministers would involve disproportionate cost.
Five Ministers now have the exclusive use of houses or flats. The total cost of upkeep of these, excluding rates, is approximately £9,500 per annum. This figure is based on the latest information available.