§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost of(a) ministerial cars and drivers and (b) taxis for his Department was in 2002. [101540]
§ Mr. RammellI refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Alexander) on 20 May 2003,Official Report, column 663W.
Most of the FCO's expenditure on taxis in the UK is channelled through three contracts for taxi services. Expenditure under them amounted to £525,026.69 during 2002. There will also have been other expenditure on taxis by our Miss ions overseas. But that is not recorded separately and it would involve disproportionate cost to obtain the total spent by them on taxis during 2002.