To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 24 February (WA 62) concerning the cost of taxis for the Northern Ireland Office, why, in order to obtain the expenditure on taxis in the first two weeks of the 2007–08 financial year, a manual investigation of all travel and subsistence claims since that two-week period would be required. [HL2220]

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 24 February (WA 62) concerning the cost of taxis for the Northern Ireland Office in the first two weeks of the 2007–08 financial year, who calculated that the cost would be disproportionate; and how. [HL2221]

As staff expenses are reclaimed retrospectively it would only be possible to identify journeys relating to this particular two-week period by carrying out checks on all claims submitted both within this period and afterwards. Staff are advised that travel claims should be submitted at no more than three-monthly intervals. The Northern Ireland Office processed 4,814 travel and subsistence claims during the 2007-08 financial year so, assuming that all taxi journeys were reclaimed within three months, this would involve a manual investigation of over 1,000 individual claim forms.

The calculation on disproportionate cost was made by the Northern Ireland Office's Financial Services Division based on the number of travel claims that would need to be investigated.