£145,000 travelling bill for AMs

WELSH Ministers spent almost £150,000 travelling around the world last year.

The Welsh Government has to publish the cost of overseas travel which costs more than £500.

The bill of £145,612 for the nine minsters, including First Minister Carwyn Jones, is for 2016-17.

The bills are for a combination of charter flights, trains and business class plane tickets.

It includes three ministers’ trips to the Euro 2016 football tournament and the hire of a charter plane for the First Minister to see Wales play there.

Mr Jones, along with a private secretary and press officer, also spent £10,035 on a trip to see Wales take on England in Lille on June 16.

Mr Jones made a second trip to Lille for the game against Belgium and an event to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

Ken Skates took two scheduled flights to the tournament. His trip along with a private secretary on a scheduled flight to see Wales v Russia in Toulouse cost £1,980. A second trip five days later to Paris cost £1,252.

Vaughan Gething’s trip to Bordeaux to see Wales v Slovakia cost £1,775.

The most expensive trip on the list was £30,936 spent by Mr Jones, a private secretary, special adviser and press officer to go to Washington DC and New York in February. It was on a scheduled flight.

A trip by the First Minister to Atlanta and Chicago cost £17,056 for him and two members of staff.

The trip in May 2016 to Mumbai during the Tata Steel crisis cost £8,553.

A trip by Mark Drakeford on the train to Brussels with two members of staff came to £1,450.

Kirsty Williams attending an education conference in Finland along with staff cost £2,622.