North civil servants 'wasting money on high-priced airfares'
Civil servants in the North were today accused of wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money on high-priced airfares.
An angry Assembly member is demanding to know why thousands of civil servants flying to London pick the most expensive option – sometimes four times more than the cheapest.
Tommy Burns said: “This is a disgrace and in these difficult financial times I want answers.”
The policy for travelling on official business says civil servants “must use the most efficient and economic form of travel”.
In responses to a series of written questions to Finance Minister Nigel Dodds, the South Antrim SDLP MLA discovered the expensive option spending has been going on for at least five years.
The vast bulk of the money has been spent on trips to London Heathrow on BMI flights from the George Best Belfast City Airport, he said.
Statistics show that in the first nine months of this year there was a spend of £514,503 (€628,640) – excluding tax – on 2,584 BMI trips to Heathrow at an average price of £199 (€243).
Only 217 civil servants used the alternative Heathrow route from the Belfast International Airport – provided by Aer Lingus – at an average ticket price of just £58 (€71).
The easyJet service into London Gatwick at an even cheaper £49 (€60) was used by just 296 government workers. Only 103 used the airline’s route to London Luton, at an average of £37 (€45) or London Stansted where 101 paid an average of £40 (€49).
If the civl servants had been so set on flying from the Belfast City Airport they could have used FlyBe to Gatwick, but only 634 did – at an average cost of £89 (€109).
The International Airport is in Mr Burns’ constituency and he is an unashamed supporter of it in its battle for business with its competitor.
But he said: “I understand everybody wants competition and choice, but there is a very, very unfair playing field when it comes to spending the tax-payers money.
“They are sticking rigidly to Belfast City Airport when they could get better value for money at the International Airport.”
He added: “I think , especially in these times, they should be looking for best value for money. Belfast City Airport has a virtual monopoly on all the flights and I think that is wrong.”
If the civil servants were too lazy to drive up to the International Airport, they could take a taxi , he said.
“You could still save money even if you took a taxi there and back,” said Mr Burns.
It is not just this year the airport closest to Stormont has had the lions’ share of the business, and through it BMI.
The details supplied to the MLA by the Finance Minister shows it has been going on since at least 2004 with a total of 28,962 trips through Belfast City and only 6,425 through the International Airport.
Last year 3,973 trips between Belfast City and Heathrow cost £736,979 (€900,152) at an average ticket price of £185 (€226). The alternative route from the same airport to Gatwick was used by just 855 people who paid an average of £118 (€144) a ticket.
Challenged on the spending the Department of Finance and Personnel said: “The Northern Civil Service policy on travelling on official business, is that all officers must use the most efficient and economic form of travel, taking into account not only the cost of the travel, but also subsistence costs and potential savings in official time and proper consideration of work-life balance.”
A spokesman added: “There may be occasions when the time of booking means that the cheapest options are not available.
“It is the responsibility of individual departments to ensure that the central policy is being adhered to.”
Mr Burns said he was deciding with colleagues whether to raise the issue on the floor of the Assembly or to go to committee first.
