§ Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of royal travel by(a) the Royal Flight, (b) the Royal Train and (c) commercial airlines in the last year before the grant-in-aid to the Palace for royal travel was introduced. [2085]
§ Mr. ByersI have been asked to reply.
433WPrecise information for the year in question—1996–97— is not readily available. The initial budget of £19.385 million for the grant-in-aid for royal travel by rail and air was based on the estimated costs of royal travel in 1996–97. The resource budget for air travel by 32 (The Royal) Squadron was £16.57 million after adjusting for depreciation and interest charges on the capital values, airframe and engineering costs, the expected number of royal flying hours in 1997–98, overhead and administration charges, inflation and VAT. The budget for flying by other operators was £711,000. The budget for rail travel (which included both fixed and variable costs of the Royal Train) was £18.9 million. £331,000 was allocated for administration costs.