HC Deb 03 March 1994 vol 238 cc845-6W
Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what were the(a) planned costs and (b) actual spending on GCHQ civil servants' travel expenses for the last five years for which figures are available.

Mr. Hurd

It is not the Government's policy to give detailed information about the expenditure of individual security and intelligence agencies. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 30 November 1993,Official Report, columns 419–20, figures for the aggregate expenditure on the security and intelligence agencies will be published with main estimates.

Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria are applied by civil servants at GCHQ as to what class of air-travel they use.

Mr. Hurd

In determining travel arrangements for GCHQ civil servants, use is made where practicable of RAF flights, economy fares and MOD charter. Otherwise, normal commercial carriers are used with class of air travel determined in accordance with the following criteria:

Structure 1Grade 3 and above Other grades
First/Economy (a) Economy Economy
(b) First Economy
Business/Tourist1 (a) Business Tourist
(b) Business Business
First/Business/Tourist1 (a) Business Tourist
(b) Business Business
1 Or equivalent.

Note: (a) relates to flights up to 2.5 hours long;

(b) to longer flights.