The spend on travel undertaken by officials is not separately identifiable in the Department’s accounts.
The Department’s annual accounts show travel, subsistence, and hospitality in one line, and where it may be possible to separate the travel and subsistence element, to distinguish the travel element from this figure may be provided only at disproportionate costs.
The Department has published rules for official travel in its staff handbook, and all travel is undertaken in accordance with the guidelines set out in the civil service management code.
All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and ‘Travel by Ministers’, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.
(2) how much his Department and its agencies spent on (a) first and (b) other class travel by Eurostar in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
It is not possible to list the costs spent on first class travel by the Department in the last 12 months as the expenditure is not separately identifiable within the Department’s accounts and may be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Travel by Eurostar is not separately identifiable, as the Department does not book travel with Eurostar directly as a supplier. Central guidance states that all Departmental travel should be booked via our booking agent, and although we get itemised bills, these are coded to a general travel and subsistence expense code. The identification of Eurostar bookings may be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the ‘Ministerial Code’ and ‘Travel by Ministers’, copies of which are available in the Library of the House for the reference of Members. All official travel by civil servants is undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the civil service management code, a copy of which is also available in the Library of the House for the reference of Members.