§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment which Government Ministers and civil servants have the regular use of: (a) the same chauffeur and (b) the same official car; and which types of car are available.
§ Mr. ArmstrongAll 21 Cabinet Ministers provided with cars by the Government Car Service have regular use of a Rover 3.5 or a Wolseley 2200 with a regular driver.
Twenty seven senior Ministers, Ministers of State and Law Officers have an allocated Wolseley 2200 and driver. Four other Ministers of State each share their allocated Wolseley 2200 with an Under-Secretary of State.
Ten Under Secretaries of State/Parliamentary Secretaries and the Chief Whip, House of Lords, have an allocated Wolseley 6. Fourteen Under-Secretaries of State have the use of a specified shared allocation.
635WNine permanent secretaries and the Director General of the Central Policy Review Staff have allocated Wolseley 6s.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the average pay of the drivers of Ministers' cars: (a) excluding overtime and (b) for overtime.
§ Mr. ArmstrongThe current basic rate of pay of a Minister's driver with inner London weighting is £45 per week. The average earnings for the tax year 1975–76 were £4,628, of which, it is estimated £2,250 was basic pay, £130 disturbed meals allowance, and £2,248 overtime.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether it is customary for the drivers of Ministers' cars who have worked normal hours during the day to remain on duty to take them home at the end of business in the House.
§ Mr. ArmstrongYes.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will arrange for records to be kept of the extent to which Ministers' cars are required to wait at the House to take them home so that the resulting additional wages cost can be computed.
§ Mr. ArmstrongDrivers' overtime arises not only for Ministers' late attendance at the House but also as a consequence of other ministerial functions. Furthermore, Ministers' allocated drivers may be employed on other than ministerial duties when not required by their Ministers.
I do not propose, therefore, to keep more detailed records for such a purpose as it would be administratively impractical to apportion the cost of overtime working between the several possible causes.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what rules exist for the recording of journeys undertaken by official cars; whether he is satisfied that sufficient records are kept to verify that the cars are correctly used; whether any records are kept for Ministers' cars; and, if so, why.
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§ Mr. ArmstrongDrivers of Government car services are required to complete a log sheet for each journey showing details of passenger(s) carried, points of call, times, mileages and fuel issued or purchased, and we are satisfied that with this information it is possible to verify that the cars are properly used. In the case of Ministers' cars, however, details of journeys between points within three miles of Whitehall are not required, and provided cars are being used within certain prescribed limits it is chiefly the responsibility of the Minister concerned to satisfy himself that the car is being used correctly. Log sheets are employed for purposes other than vertification of the actual use of the car, e.g. for vehicle performance and utilisation statistics and for costing.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the average and longest hours of overtime worked by Ministers' drivers over a recent period of weeks when the House was sitting; and what were the costs of the overtime in both cases.
§ Mr. ArmstrongThe average hours of overtime worked by Ministers' drivers during such a period were 40 hours 2 minutes per week, the longest by any driver being 74 hours 20 minutes. The cost of this overtime, plus after midnight payments, were £60 and £118 respectively.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much of the annual cost of £760,000 for providing cars for 72 Ministers consists of chauffeurs' overtime.
§ Mr. ArmstrongThe £760,000 included an estimated £225,000 in respect of drivers' overtime.