§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 10 February 1999,Official Report, column 283, on Concorde flights, if he will list the Ministers who have taken a Concorde flight; and what was the total cost of the flights. [71307]
§ The Prime MinisterSince 2 May 1997, I and the following Ministers have taken scheduled Concorde flights: my right hon. Friends the Deputy Prime Minister; the Secretary of State for Defence; the Secretary of State for Health; the Foreign Secretary; the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, Central (Mr. Fatchett); the Minister for the Cabinet Office; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer; and my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department. The total costs of these flights is some £86,800. This compares with 11 Ministers using Concorde on a total of 13 occasions during the last two years of the previous Administration.
Expenditure on these flights is part of the Government's expenditure on Ministers visits overseas of £6.1 million for the period 1 May 1997 to 31 March 1998, and £4.0 million for the period 1 April to 31 December 1998. By comparison, in the last year of the previous Administration, expenditure on overseas visits was £7.8 million.
In addition, as accounted for in answers to the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Mr. Flight) on 14 July 1997, Official Report, column 46, and the hon. Member for Lichfield (Mr. Fabricant) on 13 March 1998, Official Report, columns 366–67, I have also chartered Concorde, as did my predecessor.