Labour Government use ministerial cars 2000 times in one year but why so secretive
A written question from the Welsh Conservatives has revealed that the Labour Government has used ministerial cars 1,979 times from May 2022 to April 2023.
Commenting on the written question response, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies MS said:
“Labour ministers in the Senedd frequently preach to the rest of us about a climate emergency.
“The Welsh people may well consider Labour’s use of ministerial cars to be somewhat hypocritical, given they’ve forced extreme policies on the rest of us like a barmy road building ban and blanket 20mph speed limits.”
Below was taken from What Do They Know .com
Request-993508-7d4080a3@whatdotheyknow.com
Thank you for your requests which I received on 22 and 27 June 2023. You asked for the following information:
- A breakdown of how many times since the start of 2023 each Minister has used a
Ministerial car, including a breakdown of the length of each journey. - Were there any accommodation costs for the drivers?
- Were there any EV vehicles used?
I have reached the conclusion that it will cost more than the appropriate limit established in
the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004 to consider your request. The appropriate limit specified for central government is
£600. When calculating whether or not your request exceeds appropriate limit, I am
allowed to consider the time it is likely to take to establish if we hold the information, locate
the information, retrieve the information and extract it. If these tasks are estimated to take
more than 24 hours of working time, the limit will have been exceeded.
You have requested journey information over a period which will involve retrieving
information from approximately 900 vehicle log sheets. At an estimate of taking 2 minutes
to investigate each document, to see if it contains any relevant information, and to then
extract it would take 30 hrs for this exercise alone. Additional time would also need to be
added to undertake locating and extracting the information you have requested on
accommodation costs. Because this exceeds the appropriate limit established in the
Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate limit and Fees) Regulations
2004, I have decided not to process your request. You may wish to refine your request by
narrowing its scope by being more specific about what information you particularly wish to
obtain, including any dates or periods of time relevant to the information required. If you do
refine your request in this way, this will be treated as a new request, please be as specific
and focused as possible.
If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask
for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response. Requests for an
internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information
Officer at:
Information Rights Unit
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ
or e-mail: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales
Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk
However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until
it has been through our own internal review process.
Yours sincerely
Carl Roberts
Cabinet Division
