Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 13 July 2023 to Question 193273 on Ministry of Defence: P&O Ferries, whether his Department's expenditure on P&O Ferries services between 17 March 2022 and 1 July 2023 were recorded in the departmental returns for expenditure over £500 using a government procurement card; and whether his Department used a government procurement card on (a) support of operational movement services or (b) business travel with P&O Ferries since 2 July 2023.

In accordance with Ministry of Defence (MOD) transparency policy, all GPC (Government Procurement Card) payments over £500 in value are published monthly on gov.uk; this includes any payments made to P&O.

Between 2 July 2023 and 15 November 2023, the MOD made payments of £91,449 directly with P&O using GPC cards primarily for freight movements (this includes operational and freight movements by the National Movement Coordination Centre (Army)), and a further £45,751 was spent through GBT, the MOD's contracted travel management company, primarily for business travel. Transactions over £500 are subject to the above transparency process.