Office of the First Minister
Swyddfa’r Prif Weinidog
E-mail request
Jonathan Edwards
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our ref: ATISN 15744
Date: 13 January 2022
Dear Jonathan Edwards
ATISN 15744
Thank you for your request which I received on 3 December 2022. Over the last 3 years,
you asked for the following information:
flights taken by Welsh Government Ministers, Special Advisers and Welsh Civil
Servants (date, destination and airport used).
The information requested accompanies this letter as a spreadsheet. There are two tabs -
one for officials and Special Advisers, and one containing information on Ministerial flights
that have not been previously disclosed.
The flight information for officials is international flights only. The International Relations
and Trade Department keep a central record of staff travelling overseas linked with their
role as a hub for international activity.
With regard to (staff) internal flights information, I estimate that it will take longer than the
appropriate limit set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 to provide information on UK domestic flights taken by
officials.
The appropriate limit specified for central government is £600. This represents the
estimated cost of it taking over 24 hours of time to determine whether we hold the
information and to thereafter locate, retrieve and extract it.
The Welsh Government’s central finance system does not hold the specific information
you have requested and as such, officials would need to review individual
transactions/records to establish what information is held to respond.
Parc Cathays ● Cathays Park
CentralDepartments-FOI/DP@gov.wales
Caerdydd ● Cardiff
Gwefan ● website: www.llyw.cymru
CF10 3NQ
www.gov.wales
Over the 3 year period, there have been 142,895 transactions booked to the travel &
subsistence nominal on the Welsh Government’s finance system (the nominal describes
the category of expenditure).
I estimate it would take approximately 3 minutes to extract and review each record to
determine whether any information therein was captured by your request - the limit is
therefore exceeded (142,895 x 3 minutes /60 = 7,145 hours).
You may wish to narrow your request to focus on UK domestic flights taken by officials to a
specific destination combined with a smaller time period. Please note however that any
narrowed request which requires Welsh Government to undertake the exercise to locate,
extract and retrieve information from our finance system may still exceed the appropriate
limit. Any redefined questions will be treated as a new request for information.
For Ministers, part of the information you have requested (regarding overseas flights
costing more than £500) is already available at the following link:
https://gov.wales/ministerial-code-information-publication-5th-assembly. This information is published on an annual basis by financial year as required under the
Ministerial Code. We have therefore only included information on flights not previously
declared (in this case internal flights, or for overseas travel costing less than £500).
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
Jamie Jenkins
Corporate Services
