Accommodation Costs (Hansard, 18 March 2002)

§ The Solicitor-General

[holding answer 11 March 2002]: In my own Department, the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, costs incurred in relation to travel and accommodation form part of the Treasury Solicitor's Department's records. The Treasury Solicitor's Department could not provide information in the form 7W requested without incurring disproportionate cost. The total amount spent on travel and accommodation in each of the last four years was as follows:

£56,000 in 1998–99
£58,000 in 1999–2000
£83,000 in 2000–01
£51,000 in 2001–02.

In the Departments for which the Attorney-General is responsible, details are as follows:

Crown Prosecution Service

The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to hotel costs do not permit the identification of hotel accommodation costs from the overnight subsistence rates paid to CPS staff.

The total cost of hotel accommodation and overnight subsistence payments for Crown Prosecution Service staff working away from home in each of the last four years was as follows:

£306,740.37 in 1997–98
£436,269.76 in 1998–99
£690,934.96 in 1999–2000
£915,051.34 in 2000–01.

Night Subsistence Allowance (NSA) is available to members of staff to cover the costs of overnight absences on official business. The Crown Prosecution Service reimburses the cost of bed and breakfast accommodation, within certain limits, and provides a flat rate personal allowance to cover the cost of meals and incidental travel. An additional allowance is payable to cover telephone calls, newspapers and soft drinks etc. The current accommodation cost limits and personal allowances are: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and York—up to £95 per 24 hours bed and breakfast accommodation. Elsewhere—up to £65 per 24 hours bed and breakfast accommodation. 24 hour meal and incidental travel allowance—£20. 24 hour personal and incidental expenditure allowance—£5.

The CPS also employs a hotel-booking agency through which staff are obliged to make arrangements for overnight accommodation. This provides the Department with discounted hotel rates and management control over accommodation expenditure.

Treasury Solicitor's Department

The Treasury Solicitor's Department could not provide information in the form requested without incurring disproportionate cost. The total amount spent on travel and accommodation by the Treasury Solicitor's Department and its agencies in each of the last four years was as follows:

Treasury Solicitor's Department

£327,000 in 1998–99
£202,000 in 1999–2000
£396,000 in 2000–01
£318,000 in 2001–02

Government Property Lawyers

£10,000 in 1998–99
£37,000 in 1999–2000
£1,000 in 2000–01
£0 in 2001–02

Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

£0 in 1998–99
£0 in 1999–2000
£0 in 2000–01
£130,000 in 2001–02.

The above figures do not distinguish between travel and accommodation, nor between costs incurred in the course of official business and on events such as training courses.

Serious Fraud Office

Serious Fraud Office incurred the following subsistence costs in each of the last four years.

£129,707 in 1997–98
£92,628 in 1998–99
£97,564 in 1999–2000
£158,879 in 2000–01.

SFO staff incur expenditure on hotel and similar accommodation when on official duty, both within the UK and overseas. Costs are incurred in relation to both operational activity and administrative activity (training etc.). Costs incurred and recorded are either based on subsistence rates, actual cost or a mixture of the two but often include the additional cost of food (ie bed and breakfast).

Therefore the above subsistence costs include the cost of hotel accommodation. To derive the actual costs of hotel accommodation in each of the last four years would involve disproportionate cost.