asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much money was spent on overseas travel by his Department during the latest year for which figures are available; and, of this sum, how much was spent on travel by air.

Expenditure on fares for overseas travel during the current financial year is expected—on the basis of actual figures for the first 10 months—to be about £5·1 million, of which about £5 million will be for air travel. I regret that exact figures for earlier full years are not available, since fares were not recorded separately from subsistence and other related costs.