§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he has any proposals to reduce the number of Government cars in his Department.
§ Mr. HayhoeThere are no specific proposals to reduce further the number of cars. but significant savings have been made in the cost of operating the MOD car service in recent years and the search for further economies continues.
§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many cars of his Department operate in London; what are the regulations regarding their use; and what is the total cost per annum to public funds.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe Ministry of Defence London car service operates 59 cars, four of which are Daimler limousines which may only be used on ceremonial occasions or by visiting dignatories. Of the other vehicles, 43 are allocated on a "first call" basis for the use of Ministers, Chiefs of Staff, permanent under secretaries and certain other very senior Service and civilian officers, in connection with their official duties. When not required by their nominated user, these cars are released to form the MOD London taxi pool which operates during normal office hours and is available to staff of the rank of lieutenant colonel—and equivalent—and above for journeys within a six mile radius of Whitehall.
The remaining 12 cars form a pool of vehicles available for essential journeys outside the immediate Whitehall area by other senior staff. They may be used only when the official business involved cannot be performed as effectively by using public transport. As a general rule, journeys must start and finish at the nor-may place of duty and the cars are not available for regular or standing commitments, journeys to or from railway, bus or air terminals or journeys from resi- 692W dence to place of duty. When not otherwise employed, these vehicles too are available to the taxi pool.
The total cost to public funds of operating the services I have described was of the order of £800,000 in the last financial year.
§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish in the Official Report the names of those members of his Department who are collected by Government car every morning from (a) their homes and (b) railway stations; which specific railway stations they are collected from and the time; what is their position or rank; and what is the total cost to public funds per annum.
§ Mr. HayhoeA number of first call users are regularly collected either from their home or a railway station, but I regret that all the detailed information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Senior members of the Ministry of Defence entitled to first use of an official car seldom have a fixed routine and their responsibilities, both functional and representative, involve considerable travelling to and from various locations.