§ Sir Donald Kaberryasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Ministers in his Department have made journeys abroad; if he will specify the number of separate occasions (a) to EEC countries and (b) to overseas countries outside the EEC within the 12 months to 30 June; how many staff of his Department and others accompanied the individual Minister on each occasion; what was the overall cost on each occasion in respect of travel, subsistence and other expenditure involved; how many days were occupied on each visit; what was the object of each journey; and how many such visits are now planned to be undertaken from 1 July to 31 December.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 21 July 1980, c. 31–32]: Four Treasury Ministers have made 30 journeys abroad, of which details are given below, in the 12 months to 30 June 1980. Nine visits to EEC countries and three to non-EEC countries are at present planned between 1 July and 31 December 1980.
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(a) EEC COUNTRIES Country visited Minister Numbers of staff Days Cost* £ Reason for visit Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 556 EEC Finance Council France … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 4 1 774 Discussions with Finance Ministers Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 5 1 750 EEC Finance Council Luxembourg … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 973 EEC Finance Council Federal Republic of Germany … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 241 Anglo-German summit France … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 2 1 886 Discussions with French Finance Minister Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 747 EEC Finance Council Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 990 EEC Finance Council Netherlands … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 2 1 1,622 Discussions with Dutch Ministers Federal Republic of Germany … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 2 1 2,106 Discussions with Finance Ministers Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 4 1 778 EEC Finance Council Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 69!) EEC Finance Council Italy … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 2 648 EEC Finance Ministers Meeting Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 4 1 990 EEC Finance Council Federal Republic of Germany … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 5 3 1,281 IMF interim and development committees Belgium … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 669 EEC Finance Council France … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 4 1 1,004 OECD Ministerial meeting Luxembourg … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 3 1 435 EEC Finance Council Federal Republic of Germany … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 4 1 1,658 Discussions with German Ministers and speech to chamber of commerce Italy … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 4 2 1,000 (estimate) Venice summit Belgium … Financial Secretary … 4 1 972 EEC Budget Council Belgium … Financial Secretary … 3 2 387 EEC Budget Council France … Financial Secretary … 2 1 611 EEC Budget Council Luxembourg … Financial Secretary … 2 1 365 EEC Budget Council Luxembourg … Minister of State (C) … 3 1 835 European Community Fiscal Council * Gross cost, of which £4,620 has been reimbursed by the EC: further reimbursement will be made in due course, equivalent to first class air fares on commercial flights, for all Ministers and officials attending Council meetings. 866W867W
(b) NON-EEC COUNTRIES Country visited Minister Numbers of staff Days Cost £ Reason for visit Malta … … … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 7 2 4,921* Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting IMF and IBRD annual meetings Yugoslavia … … … Chancellor of the Exchequer … 7 6 USA … … … Financial Secretary … None 5 1,340 Visiting economic and financial organisations USA … … … Minister of State (C) … 2 9 3,877 Discussions with the United States and Californian administrations, and other interested parties about the United Kingdom/United States double taxation convention and the problems of unitary taxation in general USA … … … Minister of State (L) … None 12 1,231 Seminar and talks with United States tax authorities * Gross cost of which £464 has been reimbursed by IMF/IBRD Chancellor's travel and subsistence.