§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total cost of official(a) hospitality and functions, (b) visits outwith Scotland and (c) gifts, etc. attributable to the Scottish Office in each year since 1980; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lang[holding answer 11 June 1992]: The information requested is as follows: 678W
(a) Hospitality and Functions Year Amount spent on hospitality(£) 1980–81 19,427 1981–82 20,762 1982–83 31,588 1983–84 26,287 1984–85 27,301 1985–86 35,815 1986–87 38,315 1987–88 41,983 1988–89 42,987 1989–90 60,173 1990–91 65,123 1991–92 62,800 (b) Visits outwith Scotland
Scottish Office Ministers and officials incur travel and subsistence costs on journeys outwith Scotland, particularly to England, in the normal course of duties and functions placed on them by Parliament. It is not possible to identify those costs separately from the total Scottish Office travel and subsistence expenditure, which was £4,972 million in 1991–92.
(c) Gifts etc.
Records in relation to gifts attributable to the Scottish Office go back only to 1988–89. The cost of gifts incurred by the Scottish Office since then are:
£ 1988–89 109 1989–90 403 1990–91 330 1991–92 450