§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 18 January 1999,Official Report, column 343, on overseas visits, what were the costs of flights to New York; how many people travelled with him; and if he will make a statement. [67401]
§ The Prime MinisterThe costs of the visit to New York in June 1997 were fully accounted for in the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Mr. Flight) on 14 July 1997,Official Report, column 46.
For the visit in September 1997, I travelled on a scheduled flight to New York by Concorde, and was accompanied by four members of my office. In order to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which began with a speech by President Clinton at 10.30a.m., this was judged the most efficient cost effective way of travelling. This is one of the 14 occasions, I and 8 of my Ministers have used scheduled flights on Concorde since May 1997 and compares with 11 Ministers on a total of 13 occasions during the last two years of the previous Administration.
For the return trip, I and five members of my office returned on a scheduled British Airways 747. The usual number of security and secure telecommunications staff accompanied me on both flights.
The cost of the flights to New York in September totalled £56,000. This is part of this Government's expenditure on visits overseas of £6.1 million for the period 1 May 1997 to 31 March 1998. By comparison, in the last year of the previous Administration, expenditure on overseas visits was £7.8 million.