Government Departments: Bank Cards

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Government procurement cards are in circulation; and how much was spent on such cards in the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available. (323515)

During the period January to December 2009 there were 141,693 Government procurement cards in circulation.

For the same period £995,872,758 was spent on these cards.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases of (a) unauthorised and (b) fraudulent transactions using Government procurement cards there have been to date; and who is responsible for assessing the risks of fraud within the scheme. (323517)

In the period January-December 2009 no incidents of card misuse were reported by card issuers on the Government procurement card (GPC) framework agreement. Each Department or organisation using GPC is responsible for controlling and monitoring its own card programme and is not required to report incidents centrally.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Government procurement card transactions there were in the last year for which figures are available. (323518)

During the period January to December 2009 there were a total of 6,565,825 transactions made on Government procurement cards.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of his Departments' officials have a Government procurement card; and what the approval mechanisms to authorise expenditure on such cards are. (323519)

The current numbers of officials within the HM Treasury family using a Government procurement card are as follows:

HM Treasury: 620

Treasury Solicitors: 46

OGC: 367

Buying Solutions: 340

Debt Management Office: 0

Each organisation has its own rigorous approval mechanism to authorise expenditure on such cards.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the average cost of processing a transaction on a Government procurement card. (323520)

This information is not available and in any event would vary by Department or organisation dependant on their internal processes.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which public bodies participate in the Government procurement card scheme. (323521)

There are currently 1,649 UK public sector organisations utilising the Government procurement card service. A full list has been deposited in the Library of the House.