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Brussels

Volume 486: debated on Thursday 15 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department spent on visits by its staff to Brussels in 2007-08; and how many such visits were made by (a) air and (b) rail. (241257)

From information held centrally by the core-Department, the following expenditure was incurred on visits to Brussels in the financial year April 2007 to March 2008:

£

Air spend

Rail spend

Q1: April to June 2007

6,127.67

83,055.00

Q2: July to September 2007

3,312.93

49,527.00

Q3: October to December 2007

5,678.04

73,429.00

Q4: January to March 2008

2,542.03

83,067.00

From information held centrally by the core-Department, the number of visits to Brussels in the financial April 2007 to March 2008 was as follows:

Number of air tickets

Number of rail tickets

Q1: April to June 2007

34

465

Q2: July to September 2007

21

285

Q3:October to December 2007

34

427

Q4: January to March 2008

16

481

All travel by civil servants is undertaken in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Civil Service Management Code and departmental travel policy, which specifies the use of rail travel from London to Brussels, and London to Paris. Staff travelling outside of London are encouraged to explore rail over air travel where possible.