§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what entertainment or gifts have been offered by the oil companies and accepted by civil servants in his Department in their official capacity in each of the past three years.
§ Mr. MoynihanAll gifts received by civil servants in their official capacity have to be reported and recorded. Excluding minor items of a seasonal or promotional nature, such as calendars or diaries, officials accepted, and were authorised to accept, from oil companies, one gift in 1987, two in 1988 and two in 1989. All were valued at less than £20.
It is frequently essential to the work of the Department for officials to attend working lunches and working dinners and to attend other functions which further the work of the Department. Some of these functions can be classified as entertainment because they are cultural or sporting events. Acceptance of invitations to these must be reported to senior officers, who will consider whether the work of the Department will be forwarded and whether the invitation is appropriate. The only full year for which my Department has records of such social invitations is 1989. In that year 239 of them were received from oil companies and 114 of them accepted.