To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many miles (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have travelled by taxi in the course of their official duties in each year since 1997; and at what cost to the public purse in each such year. (302701)

All official travel is undertaken in accordance with rules set out in the Department's staff guide under Travel and Subsistence and is consistent with the civil service management code. Travel by Ministers is in respect of their ministerial duties and complies with guidance set out in the Ministerial Code.

The Department's records relating to expenditure and mileage on taxis are not analysed by the categories requested and to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.

As part of monitoring the Department's carbon emissions, the Department's supplier has provided the overall mileage incurred for pre-booked taxis since 2006-07. These details are set out in the following table. Records for earlier years and for hailed taxis are not available.

The total expenditure incurred by the Department on taxis since 1998-99, the earliest year for which information is readily available, is also set out in the table.

These figures represent expenditure on taxis and black cabs but exclude expenditure in respect of ministerial car service provided by The Government Car and Despatch Agency. In addition, some expenditure on taxis and black cabs included under general travel and subsistence account cannot be separately identified except at disproportionate cost.