Ministerial Travel

HC Deb 19 November 1998 vol 319 cc742-5W

Mr. Maples

To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the occasions since 1 May 1997 on which a Minister in the Cabinet Office has used(a) an aircraft belonging to the RAF and (b) a privately chartered aircraft together with (i) details of the take-off and destination points, (ii) ground waiting time, (iii) dates of departure and return, (iv) purpose of the trip, (v) cost of the trip to the Cabinet Office and (vi) details of people accompanying the Minister, indicating the total costs of all such travel borne by the Cabinet Office (1) since 1 May 1997 and (2) between 1 May 1996 and 1 May 1997. [55548]

The Prime Minister

[holding answer 19 October 1998]: Ministers are required under the terms of the Ministerial Code always to make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. The rules on travel for Ministers are the same as those that applied under the previous Administration. The volume of travel by RAF

aircraft and private charter flights reflects our Presidency of the European Union, our chairmanship of the G8, and the leading role played by this Government in peace talks in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. This Question

Date	Destination	Purpose	Numbers accompnying minister
May 1997	Northern Ireland	Official visit	6
			8
	The Hague	Informal European Council	20
			22
	Paris	NATO/Russia Summit	11
			12
June 1997	Malmo—Bonn	Bilaterals in Bonn	20
			17
			18
	Paris	Talks and dinner with President Chirac	14
			12
	Amsterdam	European Council	41
			39
	Denver—New York	G7 Summit and UN General Assembly	58
			63
	Hong Kong	Handover ceremony to China	21
			23
July 1997	Madrid	NATO Summit	32
			16
August 1997	Bologna	Bilateral with Italian PM/Holiday	12
			2
	Pisa—Toulouse	Bilateral with French PM/Holiday	3
			13
			5
September 1997	Scotland	Regional tour/Balmoral	6
			10
	Wrexham	Regional tour	10
			11
October 1997	Moscow	Talks with Presidentn Yeltsin	31
	Luxembourg—Strasbourg	Dinner with Prime Minister Juncker Council of Europe Summit	12
			11
	Belfast	Talks in Stormont and regional tour	9
			11
	Edinburgh	CHOGM	16
			18
November 1997	Luxembourg	EU Jobs Summit	17
			14
	Bosnia	Visting troops/Bosnian Leaders	21
			22
December 1997	Luxembourg	European Council	28
			36
	Belfast	Official visit	8
			10
January 1998	Japan	EU/Japan Summit	50
			51
	The Hague	Speech to the Ridderzaal	8
			9
February 1998	Washington	Talks with Clinton	54
			55
March 1998	Glasgow—Dundee—Teesside	Regional tour	11
			10
	Bonn	Bilateral visit	7
	Paris	Address National Assembly and bilateral meeting	13
April 1998	Belfast	Northern Ireland Peace Agreement	8
	Belfast	Northern Ireland Peace Agreement	5
			14
	Spain	Bilateral visit and holiday	6
	Cairo—Jeddah—Amman—Israel	Middle East Tour	46
			48
			47
			51
			53
	Manchester	Regional Tour	7
			9

could be answered in the precise terms requested only at disproportionate cost. Between 2 May 1997 and 30 September 1998 I have used RAF aircraft/private charter aircraft on the following occasions:

Date	Destination	Purpose	Numbers accompanying minister
May 1998	Amsterdam—Brussels	Speech in The Hague and Special EMU Council in Brussels	11
			12
			16
	Belfast	Regional tour and talks	8
			8
	Belfast	Talks	13
			7
	Geneva	Speech to WTO	10
	Belfast	Talks	8
			9
June 1998	Madrid—Dublin—Belfast	Pre-European Council tour	11
			11
			6
			6
	The Hague	Pre-European Council tour	7
			10
	Rome—Vienna	Pre-European Council tour	9
			10
			9
	Stockholm—Helsinki—	Pre-European Council tour	12
	Copenhagen—
	Brussels—Luxembourg—Bonn—
	Paris
			13
			13
			13
	Strasbourg	Speech to European Parliament	14
			14
	Teesside	Regional tour	6
	Frankfurt	Inauguration of European Central Bank	10
			12
July 1998	Belfast	Talks	10
			9
	Edinburgh	Regional tour	11
	Teesside	Regional tour	16
			4
August 1998	Bologna	Bilateral with Italian PM/Holiday	10
			1
	Florence—Toulouse	Bilateral with French PM/Holiday	3
			14
			5
	Toulouse—Belfast—Toulouse	Talks in Northern Ireland	3
			3
	Toulouse—London—Belfast	Talks in Northern Ireland	2
			15
			9
			8
	Glasgow—Aberdeen	Regional tour	7
			7
September 1998	Belfast	Talks	10
			9
	Blackpool—Teesside—Newcastle—Lyneham	Regional tour	7
			6
			6
	Lyneham—Highgrove	Dinner at Highgrove	4

The average cost of the flights undertaken for these trips for the 17 months between May 1997 and September 1998 is £11,613 compared to £11,136 under the last year of the previous Administration. In addition to these flights, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster used an RAF plane to make an official visit to Yeovilton in July 1997 accompanied by 3 officials. The cost was £1,109.