Chair's statement on government travel expenditure
11 March 2015
A statement from The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts:
It is deeply concerning that government does not know what it spends on travel overall or the extent to which its officials are travelling.
Even though the vast majority of civil servants travelled in standard or economy class, I find it difficult to believe that government departments are getting best value for the taxpayer when 41% of the rail tickets booked in 2013-14 were 'anytime' flexible tickets – the most expensive available, typically between two and five times more expensive than the cheapest 'advance' fares.
Everyone knows that a bit of forward planning can result in getting a better deal, and so it’s madness that departments booked 492,177 expensive 'anytime' train tickets in 2013-14, compared with 281,385 cheaper 'advance' tickets. I expect government departments to be more efficient by planning ahead and booking travel which is good value for the public purse.