In a week where civil servants joined the latest wave of strike action, Guido can reveal that just two Whitehall departments, Transport and Education, spent a combined £300,000 on taxis in 2022 alone. The figures, acquired through two FoI requests, add to prior calculations that found Whitehall wonks had spaffed £10,000,000 on taxis over three years. In good news for civil service efficiency, it only took them four times longer than the required 20 working days to respond…

The Department for Education were the worse offenders of the two. Despite having half the headcount of Transport, they spent five times as much on taxis – with a grand total of £258,668 in 2022-23. Transport spent £47,795.

The FoI requests also contained data on other expenses over 2021 and 2022: DfT spent £20,500 on eye care expenses and £650 on formal dress hire whilst Education spent £950 on honours ceremonies and garden parties. Total expenses for both departments over two years add to over £6,200,000. With such generous expenses, working arrangements, pay and pensions, it’s almost like civil service strike action is politically motivated…