Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many journeys Ministers of his Department have made using the Government Car Service; and how many such journeys were for the transportation of a red box.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers do not make regular use of the Government Car Service and we do not record the times when it may be used by Ministers. FCO Services, a Trading Fund of the FCO, has a small pool of vehicles and security cleared drivers (the London Car Service) which are used mainly for transporting Queen’s Messengers, diplomatic bags and other classified material. As part of a long-standing arrangement the Permanent Under Secretary and other senior officials have been able to draw on this pool for official and operationally necessary travel, and since 2010 FCO Ministers have also used the service.

In the financial year 2013/14, 1,446 journeys were made by Ministers using the London Car Service. A further 151 London Car Service journeys were made for the separate transportation of red boxes.