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PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Department for Education: Travel (6 December 2016)

Question Asked

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on travel that was not standard class in each of the last five years.

Asked by:
Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat)

Answer

The table below outlines ‘non-standard’ travel in each of the last five financial years.

Non-standard travel includes:

Rail (incl. Eurostar Bookings): First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy & Mixed bookings (multiple ticket bookings for which we are unable separate the class of travel).

Flights: First Class, Business Class & Premium Economy

The Department’s Policy is to allow First Class bookings where;

  • Disability or health reasons mean that an employee would not be able to secure suitable facilities in standard class;

  • There are good grounds for security concerns – e.g. significant risk of unwarranted attention from the Press or the public;

  • Colleagues are travelling with a Minister who is travelling first class;

  • The overall cost of the first class ticket is less than the overall cheapest ticket for standard class.

Department for Education

Non Standard Class Travel Spend

Financial Year

2011-12

£191,146.28

2012-13

£182,339.93

2013-14

£224,505.75

2014-15

£225,776.31

2015-16

£129,944.07


Answered by:
Dame Caroline Dinenage (Conservative)
14 December 2016

Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.