Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Prime Minister what is the annual cost to the Department of the car service for Ministers; and how many vehicles are involved.
§ The Prime Minister[pursuant to his reply, 8 December 1993, c. 222]: The charge to my office for ministerial use of the Government car service during 1992–93 was £130,198. Two vehicles are involved.
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Prime Minister what was the cost to his office in 1990–91 of use of the Government car service other than the vehicles for his ministerial use; and which persons other than Ministers had a car specifically allocated to them.
§ The Prime MinisterThe charge to my office for official use of the Government car service in 1990–91 was £192,998. No cars were specifically allocated to individuals.
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Prime Minister what was the annual cost to the Department of the car service for Ministers in 1990–91; and how many vehicles were involved.
§ The Prime Minister[pursuant to his reply, 14 December 1993, c. 561]: The charge to my office for ministerial use of the Government car service during 1990–91 was £75,954. Two vehicles were involved.
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Prime Minister if he will quantify the cost of the factors which led to a fall in the cost of cars for Prime Minister's use since 1990–91; what change has taken place in the cost of cars for No. 10, other than for the Prime Minister's use, since 1990–91; and what changes have taken place in the rules governing their use.
§ The Prime MinisterSince my answers of 8 and 14 December 1993, a detailed examination has been carried out of the invoices from the Government car service over the period from 1990–91 to 1992–93, in particular to check on the allocation between ministerial and official use. This has produced some changes from the figures originally given to the hon. Member.
786WSince 1990–91, GCS costs have increased, and in addition GCS charges have been restructured to reflect the fact that it had been under-recovering its costs in 1990–91. These factors have affected the costs of the cars for ministerial use and of those for official use. In addition, for the Prime Minister's cars, the basis of funding the necessary security work has changed, and now falls on the No. 10 running costs budget; this has increased the costs of the Prime Minister's cars by some 60 per cent., on top of the 12 per cent. increase in GCS charges for long-term hire. For the cars for official use, there has been an increase in costs arising from a change away from the GCS providing 24-hour cover for the cars on long-term hire towards greater use of pool cars. There has been no change in the rules governing the use of official cars by staff in 10 Downing street.
The revised figures (net of recovered VAT) are as follows:
Ministerial use £ Official use £ 1990–91 75,954 192,998 1992–93 130,198 339,549
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Prime Minister when he will provide substantive answers to the questions from the right hon. Member for Swansea, West tabled for answer on 16 December and on 13 January relating to the costs of cars used by his Office.
§ The Prime MinisterI have done so.