Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to transaction number 90-DG -Delivery-8228, what class these tickets were; and how many were purchased.

The tickets were two first class rail tickets totalling £822.80 for the Home Secretary and Private Secretary’s return journey to Stoke-on-Trent for a regional Cabinet Meeting.

First class travel would have been booked as this is how the Home Secretary plus an official or a SpAd travels, due to the Home Secretary’s Protective Security arrangements.

On this occasion the tickets were booked at short notice, which increased their cost. Specific trains had to be booked to enable the Home Secretary to arrive in time for Regional Cabinet meeting.