It is the policy in the Department for Transport and its agencies that staff are not reimbursed for expenditure on alcoholic beverages. Reimbursement for food is not recorded separately in the Department and the majority of agencies, but forms part of the rules for day and night subsistence allowances. Subsistence costs, and specific food costs where available, are included in the following table. Two agencies, GCDA and DSA cannot separate travel and subsistence, and so a total figure including food, accommodation, and travel is shown. Information about food costs alone would be available only at disproportionate cost.
2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 DfT(C) Total subsistence allowance — 332,027 356,590 346,878 365,442 GCDA1 Total travel and subsistence 204,729 210,385 254,352 260,038 192,172 MCA2 — — — — — HA2 — — — — — DSA Total travel and subsistence 3345,324 3317,559 3,760,000 4,840,000 5,560,000 VOSA Total subsistence allowance — — 358,232 378,902 442,565 DVLA Total subsistence — 247,890 321,220 367,400 392,670 VCA Food 2,917 3,976 8,347 5,510 4,660 1 GCDA joined DfT in November 2005. 2 Available only at disproportionate cost. 3 DSA changed their accounting procedure for 2003-04, resulting in the apparently higher figure.