To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 18 March 1999, Official Report, column 791, on Special Advisers, if he will give the total travel cost of each occasion when (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity since 2 May 1997 and the place visited. [82418]

For the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 1999, Special Advisers in this Department have travelled overseas in an official capacity on one occasion to Brussels. The total cost, for a party of four, for travel and any hotel accommodation was £642. All travel complied with the requirements of the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.