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Written Question
Domestic Visits
Tuesday 9th September 2014

Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2014, Official Report, columns 626-7W, on official visits, what domestic visits she and her predecessor have made since January 2013; and what the purpose of each such visit was.

Answered by Dan Rogerson

Information on Ministers’ meetings with external organisations is published quarterly on the Gov.uk site. This reflects the Government’s commitment to transparency. However, we cannot identify without incurring disproportionate cost every visit over the period for all Ministers.

Relevant transparency reports can be found as follows:

1 January to 31 March 2013: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212312/defra-min-transparency-1213-q4.pdf

There has been a delay in publishing transparency data for 1 January to 31 March 2014. We expect it to be available shortly.

1 April to 30 June 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246396/Ministerial_expenses_-_1_April_to_30_June_2013.pdf

1 July to 30 September 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265462/Ministers_Quarterly_return_July_to_September_2013.pdf

1 October to 31 December 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/320333/Ministerial_Quarterly_Transparency_information_-_October_to_December_2013.pdf


Written Question
Official Visits
Wednesday 18th June 2014

Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what visits each of the Ministers in his Department have made since January 2013; and what the purpose of each such visit was.

Answered by Dan Rogerson

To identify every visit made by all of our Ministers over the period would incur a disproportionate cost as the information is not collated centrally.

However, information on Ministers' meetings with external organisations and their overseas travel is published quarterly on the Gov.uk site. This reflects the Civil Service's commitment to transparency.

Please find links to the relevant reports from 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2013:

1 January to 31 March 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212312/defra-min-transparency-1213-q4.pdf

1 April to 30 June 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246396/Ministerial_expenses_-_1_April_to_30_June_2013.pdf

1 July to 30 September 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265462/Ministers_Quarterly_return_July_to_September_2013.pdf

1 October to 31 December 2013:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/320333/Ministerial_Quarterly_Transparency_information_-_October_to_December_2013.pdf

Transparency data for 1 January to 31 March 2014 is expected to be available on the webpage later this month. The data for 1 April to 30 June 2014 is due to be published in September.


Written Question
Homelessness: Older People
Monday 7th April 2014

Asked by: Sheila Gilmore (Labour - Edinburgh East)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) 20 highest and (b) 20 lowest value contracts awarded by his Department were in each financial year since 2009-10.

Answered by Dan Rogerson

The 20 highest and 20 lowest value contracts awarded by Defra for the respective financial years are set out in the table attached.

We are unable to provide data for 2009/10 as we did not have a central contracts management system in place prior to April 2010.

The lowest value for contracts shown here is £10,000. Any purchasing below that level is made under standard purchase order terms and conditions rather than through a specific contract. These are not recorded on our central system.

The data does not included contracts for research and development which are not held centrally and could only be included at disproportionate cost.