§ Mr. MaplesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what grades in the Civil Service in his Department are allowed to travel by air(a) first class and (b) business class at public expense when on official duties. [104962]
§ Dr. MoonieOfficial travel should always be arranged by the most cost-effective means and route. The Ministry of Defence operates a range of RAF Trooping and part-charter flights to and from those overseas areas where there is a major and permanent United Kingdom military presence such as Germany, Cyprus, the USA and Brunei. If the journey is covered by a Trooping or MOD charter flight this should be used whenever possible. Where commercial flights are necessarily used, however, the MOD can call upon a number of Discounted Fare Agreements that have been negotiated with major airlines to enable journeys to be completed at reduced cost. If scheduled commercial flights are used in this way, the class of travel is determined by grade and flight time. Those in the grade of Permanent Secretary are entitled to fly business class where the flight time is under 2.5 hours and first class for longer flights. All other grades are required to use economy class for flights of less than 2.5 hours duration and business class for the longer journeys.