Department of Health: Official Hospitality

(asked on 27th March 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on (a) hotels, (b) hospitality, (c) food and drink and (d) transport in each of the last five years for which figures are available.


Answered by
 Portrait
David Mowat
This question was answered on 30th March 2017

Expenditure incurred by the core Department in the above areas is provided below for the last five financial years. This is taken from the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts for the years in question, and from underlying financial records.

Year

2011-12 £000s

2012-13 £000s

2013-14 £000s

2014-15 £000s

2015-16 £000s

Hotels

1,523

1,758

412

418

360

Hospitality

75

936

11

14

8

Food and drink

922

953

369

318

229

Transport

186

64

(1)

29

10

‘Hotels’ has been interpreted as expenses incurred by Departmental staff on official business for staying in hotels in the United Kingdom and overseas.

‘Food and drink’ has been interpreted as subsistence expenses incurred by Departmental staff on official business and other catering costs. This excludes subsistence expenses for secondees and non-Departmental staff, as these figures cannot be separated from associated travel expenses.

‘Hospitality’ is as recorded under this heading in the Department’s accounting system, and relates to the cost of providing refreshments for meetings with external visitors.

‘Transport’ is as reported under this heading in the Annual Report and Accounts, and includes motor vehicle costs but excludes travel expenses.

As a result of the reforms under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, a number of functions formerly carried out by the core Department were transferred to arm’s length bodies. This led to a reduction in staff numbers in the core Department from around 3,900 to 2,300, with a corresponding reduction in running costs reflected in the figures above.

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