Visits Abroad
(asked on 10th September 2014) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many overseas visits Ministers and officials in his Department have made in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014 to date; and what the (i) total cost and (ii) cost of (A) flights, (B) internal travel, (C) hotel accommodation and (D) subsistence was for each such visit.
The number of overseas visits made by Ministers is published on Gov.uk on a quarterly basis in arrears. The link is available here:
In 2013-14, 17 visits were made at a cost of £54,191. The breakdown between these required cost types is not recorded. Costs for 2014 have not yet been published.
The table below shows the overseas spend by officials of the Department for Transport and its agencies, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Highways Agency (HA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA).
| Department for Transport and Agencies | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
|
| 12 months | 5 months April-August |
a | Cost of flights | 2,249,359 | 508,225 |
b | Cost of internal travel | 276,958 | 52,268 |
c | Cost of hotel accommodation | 298,874 | 112,619 |
d | Cost of subsistence | 315,334 | 90,122 |
Total Spend | 3,140,524 | 763,234 | |
We do not hold data on the number of visits.
Over 50% of total spend relates to overseas travel by MCA officials to survey UK flag registered vessels abroad and by VCA engineers and a large proportion is recovered from clients.
The central Department does not record the cost of overseas hotel accommodation separately from the total of hotel accommodation. However, the majority of spend relates to UK travel so these costs are not included above.