To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department and its agencies paid in travel agencies’ fees in each year since 1997. (139912)

The following table shows the Department’s expenditure on travel agencies’ fees since July 2000. Data prior to July 2000 are no longer available and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The increase since 2002 reflects reductions in the commission the airline industry paid to travel agents for booking flights, and the consequent reduction in the levels of rebates travel agents pass on to clients. Travel agents’ fees now reflect the full cost of the travel management contract.

The Department has one Executive agency, the Royal Parks, which has not incurred any expenditure on travel agencies’ fees.