Allowances (Hansard, 26 April 1995)

§ Mr. Waldegrave

The costs incurred by my Department on subsistence for each of the last three years are as follows:

£
	1992–93	1993–94	1994–95 (provisional)
(a) United Kingdom	1,857,423	1,845,800	1,473,335
(b) Overseas	773,353	776,681	673,660

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emissions of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. The total emissions from these plants were:

The figures for 1992–93 and 1993–94 include those for the pesticides safety and veterinary medicines directorates.

Responsibility for such matters within ADAS, the Central Science Laboratory, the Central Veterinary Laboratory and the pesticides safety and the veterinary medicines directorates has been delegated to the agency chief executives and I have asked them to reply to my hon. Friend direct.

Letter from G. K. Bruce to Mr. David Shaw, dated 26 April 1995: The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply, in respect of the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), to your question about expenditure on subsistence allowances for travel in each of the last three years. The Directorate was launched as an executive agency on 1 April 1993 and figures prior to this date have been included in the core—MAFF response and are not separately available. However, I am able to advise that subsistence allowances paid to staff for travel in the UK since the agency was launched have totalled £10,956 in 1993/94, and £20,787 in 1994/95. For travel outside the UK, subsistence allowances paid to PSD staff have totalled £38,516 and £32,611 in 1993/94 and 1994/95 respectively.

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Letter from Dr. J. M. Rutter to Mr. David Shaw, dated 26 April 1995: The Minister has asked me to reply to your question about the total amount of subsistence allowance paid by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate within and outside the United Kingdom for each of the last three years, as this is an operational matter for which I am responsible. The information requested is as follows:

Subsistence payments	1992–93 £	1993–94 £	1994–95 £
Within UK	8,052	4,049	3,956
Outside UK	46,868	48,483	34,444

Subsistence payments outside the UK include those incurred on inspections overseas of manufacturing premises for veterinary immunological medicines. These are recovered from the company concerned as part of the inspection fee.

Letter from Dr. J. M. Walsh to Mr. David Shaw, dated 21 April 1995: The Minister of Agriculture has asked me to reply directly to you in answer to your Parliamentary Question number 1055. In this you asked for the total amount paid by this Agency for travel within the United Kingdom and outside the United Kingdom in each of the last three years. ADAS was formed in June 1992 as an Executive Agency, jointly owned by MAFF and the Welsh Office. The majority of expenditure on subsistence is spent by ADAS Consultants pursuing their commercial activities. The costs incurred by ADAS on subsistence for each of the last three years are as follows:

	1992–95 £	1993–94 £	1994–95 £
(a) Within the UK	843,138	814,520	757,214
(b) Overseas	45,259	73,919	87,612

Letter from Dr. P. I. Stanley to Mr. David Shaw, dated 26 April 1995: Subsistence payments to staff of the Central Science Laboratory (CSL) in respect of travel within the UK for the past three financial years were:

£000
1992–93	63.10
1993–94	87.64
1994–95	153.33

I should explain that in April 1994 CSL was re-launched as an enlarged Agency following its merger with the Food Science Laboratories at Norwich and Aberdeen. The merger meant that the number of staff employed by CSL rose from about 450 to 700 and the incidence of UK travel increased with the addition of two major distant sites. This accounts for last year's significant rise in subsistence payments. Regarding subsistence payments for travel outside of the UK, such statistics are not recorded separately from travel and other associated expenses and the cost of obtaining them would be disproportionately high.

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Letter from Guy Stapleton to Mr. David Shaw, dated 26 April 1995: The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply to your question about subsistence allowances paid by the Agency for travel within the United Kingdom and outside the United Kingdom for each of the last three years as the information for the Intervention Board is a matter within my operational responsibility. The Intervention Board has spent the following sums on subsistence allowances since 1992–93:

	1992–93 £	1993–94 £	1994–95 £
Subsistence on travel within the United Kingdom	193,890	191,623	180,750
Subsistence on travel outside the United Kingdom	36,262	43,310	53,425

Subsistence is payable when an officer works away from their normal office and because they incur necessary expenses for accommodation or meals. The rates of subsistence are those currently indicated by Treasury. Approximately three-quarters of the Agency's subsistence for travel within the United Kingdom is paid to staff who regularly travel in their role as investigators, scrutineers and verifiers. Subsistence for travel outside the United Kingdom is incurred mainly by the attendance of Agency staff at meetings with European Commission and other officials in Brussels.

Letter from T. W. A. Little to Mr. David Shaw, dated 26 April 1995: The Minister has asked me to reply to your question about subsistence allowance paid by CVL. The total amounts paid over the last three years are:

	Within UK £	Outside UK £
1992–93 (Est)	38,700	27,250
1993–94	24,676	24,382
1994–95	23,638	26,345

A word of explanation on the 1992–93 figures may be useful. CVL became an Executive Agency in 1990. Up to and including November 1992 our accounts were processed and produced by MAFF and it has only been possible to identify separately the subsistence allowances paid from 1 December 1992. The 1992–93 figure is derived from the amounts paid between 1 December and 31 March 1993.