§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on the current conditions on which civil servants in his Department are granted salary advances to enable the purchase of bicycles for home-to-office travel; if he will make a statement on the current conditions in each agency of his Department; what plans he has to change the conditions; and if he will make a statement.
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 18 January 1993]: Staff in junior grades in the Department, including its executive agencies, may apply for an advance of salary up to a limit of £100, repayable over 12 months, for the purchase of a bicycle for home to office travel. Advances are available to officers with at least two months service, other than casual employees, up to and including the executive officer grade or its equivalent.
The Department is currently considering how to take up the freedom, announced by my hon. Friend the Financial Security to the Treasury on 16 December 1992, at columns 285–86, to decide its own rules on the size of advance, eligibility and repayment.