Royal Family cost the taxpayer 36.7 million pounds in 2004-05 |
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Thu, 23 Jun 2005 05:05
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New figures released on Wednesday show that the Royal Family is costing each person in Britain 61p ($1.12) a year. The Royal Public Finances annual report said that the Royal household cost the taxpayer 36.7 million pounds ($69 million) in 2004-5.
This was about $182,000 less than the cost in the previous year. These figures have prompted Buckingham Palace officials to say that the Queen was a good value for money. "We believe this represents a value-for-money monarchy. We're not looking to provide the cheapest monarchy. We're looking at one of good value and good quality. The further reduction in the amount of Head of State expenditure reflects the continuous attention the Royal Household pays to obtaining the best value for money in all areas of expenditure," Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse, who looks after the queen's finances, said.
However, the travel costs have mounted £4.7m to £5m after Prince Andrew's overseas trips for UK Trade & Investment were billed to the Queen's account. The report also showed that a trip by Prince Charles to Sri Lanka, Australia and Fiji by chartered plane had cost £300,000 to the exchequer.
Defending Charles' use of a chartered plane, a royal spokesman said that the Prince had gone to "Sri Lanka to visit the scene of the tsunami disaster as the President of British Red Cross, and then Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, which were long-standing invitations from the respective national governments and at the request of the British government. To allow His Royal Highness to fulfill the busy programme which had been developed and to meet the inevitable security requirements, using scheduled services was not possible although, of course, that option was considered carefully."
Lawmaker Ian Davidson, a member of the Labour Party, was highly critical of the extravagant travel expenditure, "We ought to have more of the royals using normal trains then perhaps they would put pressure on the powers that be to make sure the train service was improved for everyone,” he told the BBC.
It also emerged from the annual report that the Royal insurance bill was reduced by almost 50 percent. Commenting on this Mr. Reid said, "Savings in areas such as insurance and business rates have helped to offset increases in employment costs, where the royal household continues to invest in its people by ensuring its employees are paid in line with market rates for comparable jobs."
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