§ Mr. Canavanasked the Prime Minister in what circumstances the Prime Minister's spouse may accompany her on official visits or at official meetings; in what circumstances his expenses or the costs of his travel may be met from public funds; and whether the visits (a) to the Far East in the autumn and (b) to meet the Scottish Trades Union Congress on 1 September fall into these categories.
§ The Prime Minister:So far as I am concerned, my husband accompanies me on official visits when he has been invited by the host or when I judge it to be in the public interest that he should do so. Only rarely does this entail a cost to public funds. The practice I follow is, I understand, in line with that adopted by previous Prime 225W Ministers. My husband accompanied me to the Far East this autumn as the guest of the Governments concerned. He accompanied me to Scotland in September in order to accept an invitation from Her Majesty the Queen to us both to stay at Balmoral. He did not attend my meeting with the Scottish Trade Union Congress. Neither visit entailed any additional cost to the Exchequer.