§ Mr. WilshireTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list all overseas visits made since 1 May 1997 on which he or any other Minister in his Department has been accompanied under Rule 83 of the Ministerial Code, indicating(a) who accompanied him or her, (b) the cost to public funds of each such visit. [23256]
§ Mr. Robin Cook[holding answer 15 January 1998]: The rules and practice on foreign travel by Ministers have not changed and are the same as those followed under the previous Administration.
I was accompanied to Hong Kong for the handover from 27 June to 1 July by my wife at a cost to public funds of £2,901.
I was accompanied to Dublin on 3 November by my partner, Ms Gaynor Regan. There was no cost to public funds.
My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, North (Mr. Henderson) was accompanied by his partner, Miss Geraldine Daly, to Luxembourg from 25–26 October at a cost to public funds of £571.24.
My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, Central (Mr. Fatchett) was accompanied by Mrs. Fatchett to Australasia and the Pacific from 12–22 September at a cost to public funds of £7,558.
§ Mr. WilshireTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list each overseas journey he has made at public expense since 1 May 1997 and indicate the date, purpose and cost of each journey. [24133]
§ Mr. Robin CookFor details of my overseas visits undertaken during the period 1 May to 10 November 1997, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the534W hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) on 11 November 1997, Official Report, column 502–04. My visits overseas since then are listed in the following table:
Date Venue Purpose of visit Total cost(£) November 19–20 Geneva P4 Meeting on Iraq 35,140.15 20–21 Luxembourg Extraordinary European Council Meeting on Employment 24 Brussels General Affairs Council 6,216.00 25–28 Budapest Bilateral 45,694.00 Prague Warsaw December 7–8 Brussels General Affairs Council 2,019.93 8–10 Bonn Peace Implementation Conference 8,613.20 11–13 Luxembourg European Council 30,000.00 16–17 Brussels NAC Ministerial and Related Meetings 11,895.09 January 14 Strasbourg European Parliament 9,478.09 15–17 Washington Bilateral and EU 150,000.00 Ottawa Presidency 18–21 Hong Kong Bilateral 1100,000.00 China 1 Estimate only.