§ Mr. LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the(a) itinerary for, (b) purpose of and (c) cost of his recent visit to Washington D.C. [123135]
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§ Mr. PrescottI visited Washington on 25–27 April in order to give a speech on climate change at the Pew Centre. I also met vice-president Al Gore, Environment Secretary Frank Loy, Transport Secretary Rodney Slater, several Senators, Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk and Australian Environment Minister Robert Hill. On 27 April I travelled from Washington to New York for a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development where I also met Jan Szysko the Polish Chair of the Climate Change Convention and Dr. Hassan Adamu the Nigerian Environment Minister and current chair of the G77 group of developing countries. I returned to the UK overnight on 27–28 April. All travel was in accordance with the Ministerial Code and my costs for the trip were approximately £6,000.