Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

George Eustice

The following table sets out the number of staff in receipt of each type of allowance in 2014/15.

Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Consumer Council for Water, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Marine Management Organisation, Natural England and Veterinary Medicines Directorate have no staff in receipt of these allowances.

No staff were in receipt of subsidised health insurance.

The Home to Work Travel Allowance mainly relates to staff receiving the Excess Cost of Travel Allowance (ECTA). This is paid as a result of ongoing estates rationalisation where the home to work commute for a staff member has increased because of an office closure or move. Where there is a requirement for a limited number of RPA managers to operate out of more than one location, RPA also pay home to work travel costs to ensure the individual is not disadvantaged as a result of business needs. The EA figure includes staff in receipt of Overtime Attendance Allowance which is a fixed amount that is paid when they are required to respond to an unplanned incident.