§ David DavisTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list the travel costs incurred by(a) his Department and (b) each Minister within his Department, for each of the last 10 years; [175658]
(2) how many journeys were made by helicopter by each Minister in his Department in each of the last 10 years; and what the journey length was in each case. [175737]
§ Ruth KellySince 1999 the Government have published annually a list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The Government have also published each year since 1995–96 the total annual cost of all Ministers" visits overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2003–04 will be published later today.
In respect of total travel costs for civil servants in the department I refer the r hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 19 July 2004 (Official Report, column 43–6W) which gave the costs for the financial years 1997–98 to 2003–04. The total costs on the same basis for 1996–97 were £951,347. Information for earlier years is no longer held. It is not possible to give a breakdown of total travel costs by individual Ministers.
I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) on 27 February 2003 which stated that no flights by helicopter were made between 2001 and 27 February 2003. Information relating to other years is not held by the department.
483WAll ministerial travel is underta Ken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which a r,2 available in the Libraries of the House.