Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his departmental expenditure was on travel for (a) military staff, (b) civilian staff and (c) Ministers in each of the previous five years.

Mark Lancaster

This information is not available in the format requested. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) routinely distinguishes between military and civilian travel and subsistence costs only where these are reimbursed to the individual under our pay and claim arrangements.

Overall departmental expenditure on travel and subsistence has, however, been as follows:

Expenditure by the Defence Ministers on travel and subsistence has been as follows.

Note: This expenditure includes road transport, rail travel, international and domestic flights and the notional costs of travel in RAF aircraft where they have been available.

Travel by the Defence Ministers and all departmental staff makes a key contribution to achieving Defence objectives. The MOD has sites in many parts of the country, and internationally, and staff need to travel between them. For example, travel enables Ministers and senior leaders to visit troops on operations or to hold discussions with other governments aimed at reducing conflict.

We have achieved savings of over £60 million a year in non-operational travel since 2009-10 and plan to make further savings of 10% over the rest of this Parliament. These savings will be delivered in a number of ways, including a reduction in travel where the business need can be met by alternative arrangements such as video or audio conferencing.