Whitehall spent £14,000 chauffeuring paper in VIP cars
British taxpayers have been taken for a ride in a mad example of wasted cash
Good morning, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome to a slightly unusual edition of The Fast Charge.
Today, as silly season begins, I can reveal the Government spent more than £14,000 transporting the iconic red boxes around in EMPTY Ministerial cars.
In the modern world we live in, and as we all tighten our budgets, this seems to be a truly mad example of Whitehall wasting taxpayer cash, despite saying this practice would end during the Cameron years!
This story came about after I obtained new figures via an FOI request. Below is a small story, which will either make you laugh or cry.
There will be a more traditional Fast Charge hitting people’s inboxes later this week. As ever, if you have any comments or feedback, please reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn.
Whitehall officials waste thousands ferrying around paper in VIP style
Exclusive figures reveal officials booked 83 car journeys to transport documents over nine months
The average cost per red despatch box journey was £170
The latest data available covers June 2024 up to April 2025.
In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the Cabinet Office told The Fast Charge that, between 18 June 2024 and 31 March 2025, there were 83 journeys using the Government Car Service (GCS), at a total cost to taxpayers of £14,095.02.
These trips, which are known as “despatch box movements”, involve chauffeuring government documents securely between locations, even though no Minister is present in the car. This is allegedly done for security reasons, as the boxes contain official papers.
The average cost per journey for the most recent data available was £169.82. Based on this latest data, this would suggest the government would hit 106 journeys a year, costing the public purse over £17,600 annually if the pattern holds.
By comparison, the number of these empty-car journeys has fallen from the same period the previous year, when 120 trips cost £21,932.21 during the previous Conservative Government. Naughty.
The practice of chauffeuring paperwork around in VIP style has long been criticised by politicians on all sides of the spectrum, especially given the advances in technology over recent decades.
In 2016, the Huffington Post[i] found the average cost per journey for such movements was £125 on average. In the year 2015-16, the Cameron Government was reported as spending £41,520 on despatch movements. This suggests that in the 10 years since, the costs have come down, though some may argue the cost shouldn’t exist at all.
In 2011, then Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude, who was leading a drive to reduce costs by using technology, suggested that using hard copies in red boxes was not needed and commented, “Security is often an alibi.”[ii]
My view is… It’s clearly not only paperwork being taken for a ride, clearly us taxpayers are too. At a time when the Chancellor is looking to balance Britain’s books, potentially with new tax rises, it’s astonishing that Whitehall is burning cash like this.
Surely… cheaper, safer, and greener options must surely now exist for Ministers to access their official documents? You know, like via the internet?
Further analysis…
Average cost per journey: £14,095.02 ÷ 83 = £169.82 per movement.
Frequency: 83 journeys over 286 days = 0.29 trips per day, or roughly 2 per week. That equates to £345 per week.
Annual projection if trend holds: If this 9.5-month trend (286 days) continued at the same pace for a full year (365 days), that would equal:
106 journeys per year
(365 ÷ 286 × 83 = 105.9)£17,682.10 annual cost
(365 ÷ 286 × £14,095.02 = ~£17.7k)
Comparison with Previous Year…
That’s a 31% drop in the number of trips and a 36% drop in cost compared to the previous year under the Tories. However, the average journey cost remains high, and the practice continues despite criticism going back almost a decade (see HuffPost from 2016).
About the FOI request…
The Fast Charge Newsletter obtained the reply to an FOI on 11 July from the Cabinet Office. The reply stated:
“The number of despatch box movements (where the despatch box is transported without a Minister) booked through the Government Car Service (GCS) from 18 June 2024 until 31 March 2025 inclusive (the last date we have complete data for, following the Machinery of Government move of GCS from the Department for Transport to the Cabinet Office on 1 April 2025) is 83. The total cost of these movements is £14,095.02 (excl. VAT).
“For comparison, the number and cost for the same period in the previous year was 120 box movements at a total cost of £21,932.21 (excl. VAT).”
[i] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ministerial-boxes-chauffeur-driven_uk_57164444e4b0dc55ceeb1e39
[ii] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062807/End-Ministerial-Red-Box-Cabinet-minister-leading-drive-scrap-paper-documents.html