To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many miles (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department and its predecessors 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. (302709)

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was established under the machinery of Government on 28 June 2007, therefore the response covers its predecessor the Department for Education and Skills (DFES) which was established on 8 June 2001.

Accounting records are not available for mileage covered by taxis for both Ministers and Officials.

No taxi expenditure has been recorded against Ministers use of taxis within the DCSF’s accounting system or its predecessor the DFES. However, the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) an executive agency of the Department for Transport supplies official cars for Ministers during the course of their official duties. Unfortunately, GCDA is only able to supply data for the latest financial year of 2008-09. Data for earlier years are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs.

Due to the accounting system used by the Department prior to 2004 only being able to hold a number of charges under one account code of “travel and subsistence” individual charges were not specific to the type of travel.

Expenditure, however, has to be incurred in accordance with the principles of “Managing Public Money” and the Treasury handbook on “regularity and propriety”.