Whitehall runs up £120m hotel bill

MoD staff stayed 396,076 nights in UK hotels at a cost of £65m and 127,700 nights overseas at a cost of £33m between 2008 and 2010.

This is the equivalent of £258 per night for accommodation abroad and £164 per night in Britain.

The MoD has recently come under fire over the cost of hotels for RAF personnel stationed in Italy as part of the Nato operation against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya.

Seven other Whitehall ministries responded to Freedom of Information requests by data analysts Tableau Software.

The Department of Transport revealed that it spent £6.1m on hotels, including nearly £9,000 on five-star accommodation, over the two-year period.

Other big-spending departments included the Ministry of Justice (£11.2m) and the Department of Health (£3.5m ).

The responses reveal wide variations in departments’ allowances, with the Treasury paying a room rate of up to £140 for hotels in London while the Department for Culture, Media and Sport limits the cost to £80.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it could not provide any data because the information was not held centrally.

Bruno Saint-Cast, Tableau Software’s vice president for Europe, said: “In this day and age situations like these shouldn’t happen. The Government should have the ability to analyse data across all departments to identify exactly where savings can be made.

“Of course, the Government needs to reserve accommodation for overnight stays for civil servants on official business, meetings or training days.

“However, the UK public has a right to see data on what public money is being spent and where obvious savings can be made.”

An MoD spokesman travel was essential to the proper conduct of MoD business but MoD staff must use the most cost-effective accommodation available “which may be a hotel, a service mess or staying with family and friends.”