To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2019 to Question 208387 and the Answer of 1 February 2019 to Question 212418, if he will publish the number of (a) business class, (b) economy class and (c) first-class tickets for air travel his Department has purchased in each of the past four years.

The number of air travel tickets purchased by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is given in the table below. The data sets out the number of tickets booked through the Government’s nominated travel agency from June 2016, when the contract with the current travel agency began. Data on the number of tickets prior to June 2016 with the previous travel agency is not held.

FCO staff travelling by air are required to book the lowest standard fare possible, subject to budget holder approval. As the FCO is present in over 170 countries there is a need for long distance travel. FCO officials may fly business class only if the flight is ten hours or longer, or on flights of more than five hours in exceptional circumstances.

On occasion, it may be necessary for Ministers and FCO officials to travel first class, for example where journeys need to be made at short notice and there is no availability in any other class, or due to airline limitations when booking two or more sector flights.