§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent by his Department on official gifts for visiting dignitaries, or for presentation by Ministers in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. LeeThe way in which our accounts are kept means that it is not possible for us to differentiate between the sums spent on official gifts presented to foreign dignitaries who visit the United Kingdom and on gifts made by Ministers and senior officers and officials from MOD to their hosts when they are themselves travelling abroad.
The tables, therefore, cover both categories. The figures for Ministers—table 2—are included in the totals in table 1.
Table 1: Total MOD expenditure on official gifts Year £ 1981–82 7,496 1982–83 8,564 1983–84 14,223 1984–85 13,994 1985–86 *10,222
Table 2: Expenditure on official gifts presented by Ministers Year £ 1981–82 2,449 1982–83 686 1983–84 1,527 1984–85 2,199 1985–86 1,711 * The return for non-ministerial gifts in 1985–86 are not yet complete, so that the figure shown understates the total expenditure in that year.