To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many officials of each grade in his Department visited the Maldives (a) in 2008 and (b) 2009 to date. (289621)

There were no visits to the Maldives by officials of the Department, either during 2008 or during 2009 to date.

All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Code and Civil Service Management Code. In BIS the criteria for booking travel is value for money based on cost and convenience.