HC Deb 11 February 1999 vol 325 c338W
Mr. Maclean

To 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 Minister

The 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.