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Departmental Pay

Volume 473: debated on Thursday 13 March 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was claimed in reimbursable expenses by senior civil service staff in his Department and its agencies in the last 12-month period for which figures are available. (187543)

The Department has a team within its human resources division that deals with all SCS issues. This team does not keep records of reimbursable expenses. The information is not separately identifiable within the Department’s accounts as there are no separate accounting lines for senior civil service staff.

The information requested may be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departments and agencies have authority to reimburse expenses incurred by their staff in connection with their employment, subject to the conditions set out in section 8 of the civil service management code which state that departments and agencies must:

reimburse staff only for expenses which they actually and necessarily incur in the course of official business;

comply with the additional conditions and rules on travel, relocation expenses, compensation for loss or damage to property, and overseas expenses set out in sections 8.2 to 8.6 of the Code; and

ensure that their rules provide for claiming recompense, including verification and authorisation.

All expenditure on expenses is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety that are based on the principles set out in Government Accounting and supported by the Department’s published internal guidance.