HC Deb 21 July 1980 vol 989 cc118-20W
Sir Donald Kaberry

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment 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 count-tries 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 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.

Mr. Heseltine

The information on each journey made is as follows (altogether, five Ministers in my Department were involved):

Journey (EEC countries) No of accompanying staff Cost (£) No of days Object
(a) 5 690 1 Council of Ministers Meeting
(b) 6 1,160 1 Council of Ministers Meeting
(c) 1 255 1 Inspection of flood prevention project in Netherlands
(d) 1 221 1 OECD conference on noise
(e) 1 375 2 Meeting of European sports ministers
(f) 2 390 1 Discussion on draft Community architects directive
(g) 2 630 4 PSA organisation in Germany
(Other countries)
(a) 3 1,610 3 Conference of European local government Ministers
(b) 1 535 3 UN Conference on Pollution
(c) 1 1,885 15 Special Olympics for the mentally handicapped
(d) 1 495 6 Council of Europe
(e) 1 1,055 8 Winter Olympics
(f) 1 505 4 PSA organisation in Gibraltar
Four further journeys are planned between 1 July and 31 December.