Departments: Travel Agents

Mr. Hoban
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department and its agencies paid in travel agencies’ fees in each year since 1997.

Mr. Hain
We are unable to provide all of the information requested by the hon. Member.

Travel agency fees, historically, have not been separately identifiable on invoices; they are added to the total cost of arranging travel or accommodation so we are unable to easily identify the fees paid.

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) core Department put a system in place in financial year 2005-06 in order to identify travel agency fees. The following table provides the travel agency fees paid in the last two financial years. The NIO’s agencies do not have the same system in place so for them to identify the fees would be at disproportionate cost.

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|NIO core Department|£     |
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|2005-06            |66,000|
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|2006-07            |59,000|
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