To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many hotel room nights were booked by officials in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each year since 2007; and how much (i) her Department and (ii) its agencies spent on the fees of third party agents in booking hotel accommodation in each of those years. (309064)

All official travel within the Department is carried out in accordance with the requirements of both the Civil Service Management Code:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/documents/doc/CSMC_April_08.doc

and Departmental Business Travel Policy, which enable staff to stay overnight in hotel accommodation when travelling on detached duty for business purpose.

The following room nights were booked by DWP staff in the Department in each full financial year since 2007-08.

The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service merged into a single Agency in April 2008. The figures in the table need to be seen in the context of the Department’s total staffing of over 100,000. The Department’s booking agent is remunerated on a commission share basis by the hotels with whom it books accommodation and the Department itself pays no booking fees.