Cars bill for Labour Ministers rose by £500,000 in final year

The cost of providing official cars for Labour Ministers rose by nearly £500,000 last year as the country suffered through recession.

By The Newsroom

Published 29th Oct 2010, 11:49 BST

Updated 29th Oct 2010, 11:49 BST

Whitehall departments were charged a total of 6.74m for the chauffeur-driven services in 2009-10, compared with 6.28m in 2008-9.

Lord Mandelson's huge Business, Innovation and Skills empire incurred the biggest bill for ferrying Ministers around at 694,236.

Alan Johnson's Home Office spent 514,593, while the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) laid out 506,726.

The Cabinet Office, which provided support for then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown, paid 362,790.

Although the overall cost was up more than 7 per cent in 2009-10, by the end of the financial year the number of Ministerial cars had dropped to 78 from the 90 that were in use 12 months earlier.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the coalition was determined to reduce the bill.

"Ministers are now encouraged to use public transport where practicable and the number of Ministers entitled to an allocated government car and driver has been kept to a minimum."

Gordon Brown