A chauffeur-driven car that takes top mandarin Sir Jeremy Heywood to work costs £24,000, it was revealed today.
The vehicle was used by the Cabinet Secretary, who lives in central London, ‘predominantly for home-to-office travel’.
The benefit has been revealed in the latest accounts published by the Cabinet Office.
The value of the benefit for Sir Jeremy Heywood’s chauffeur driven car has been revealed in the latest accounts published by the Cabinet Office
Sir Jeremy Heywood is a controversial figure who sparked the ire of Brexiteers during the so-called ‘Project Fear’ campaign waged by David Cameron and George Osborne in the run-up to the EU referendum.
He was previously accused of presiding of a cover-up culture in Whitehall, including disputed claims that he obstructed publication of sensitive documents by the Iraq Inquiry.
Sir Jeremy earns £200,000 a year for his senior post, although the latest accounts show that he did not receive a performance bonus last year – unlike 2015-16 when he pocketed £15-20,000.
According to the accounts, his civil service pension pot is now valued at £1.6million.
When Sir Jeremy retires he will receive £80,000 a year plus a lump sum of £230,000.
The document said that the value of his benefits in kind totalled £24,200 in 2016-17 – up from £21,200 the previous year.
‘Sir Jeremy Heywood had the use of an allocated car in the circumstances permitted by the Civil Service Management Code,’ it said.
‘Sir Jeremy used the car predominantly for home-to-office journeys. Cabinet Office ministers and other senior officials also had use of the car.
‘The value of the benefit in kind received by Sir Jeremy was calculated in accordance with the relevant instructions published by HMRC.’
A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: ‘The Cabinet Secretary has access to a shared government car so that he can start working before reaching the office and continue working once he has left.
‘In a government car he can read confidential papers, take telephone calls and work in a way which would be impossible on other means of transport.
‘The car is a shared resource also used by other senior civil servants in the Cabinet Office.’
Sir Jeremy (pictured third from left) is the Cabinet Secretary and can be seen at Theresa May’s side during meetings of her top team