To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what records his Department maintains of its expenditure on (a) official hospitality and (b) alcohol for official hospitality. (240462)

The Department maintains a record of total spending on official hospitality in its general ledger. For the recording of alcohol spending I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the former Financial Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth (John Healey) on 20 June 2006, Official Report, column 1855W. All expenditure, including that on hospitality, has to be incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.