§ Mr. BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the criteria are for booking overseas hotel accommodation for(a) Ministers, (b) officials and (c) special advisers when on publicly funded visits. [57833]
§ Mr. MacShane[holding answer 20 May 2002]: Generally Ministers, officials and special advisers will be accommodated in a hotel identified by our diplomatic mission, often in consultation with the host country, as being a non-luxury, business hotel located relatively close to the mission and suitable for representational officers. In some countries, a second class of hotel is used for officials with no representational duties. During conferences the host nation may well limit delegations to particular hotels for security, protocol and logistical purposes.