Guidance

Ministers' overseas travel and meetings: Publication Guidance

Published 30 January 2025

Purpose

1. The Ministerial Code requires government departments to publish details of ministers’ overseas travel and meetings with external organisations and individuals on a quarterly basis. 

2. Departments should produce returns in a way that is mindful of the end user - ensuring data is meaningful, accurate and clear. Departments’ permanent secretaries are responsible for the quality and timely publication of their transparency data. Meanwhile, ministers retain responsibility for the accuracy of their transparency content, which should be cleared by ministers, or the minister’s senior private secretary (where the minister is content to delegate approval) prior to publication. 

3. Detailed guidance is included below on: 

• Annex A: Ministers’ overseas travel
• Annex B: Ministers’ meetings with external organisations and individual

4. There is separate guidance on the process for publishing:

• ministers’ gifts and hospitality
• special advisers’ gifts and hospitality (received), and meetings with senior media figures; and 
• senior officials’ business expenses, hospitality (received) and meetings with external organisations and individuals.

Ministerial returns

5. Departments must complete a return for overseas travel, and meetings with external organisations and individuals for each minister. This includes instances where the minister has nothing to declare, in which case a ‘Nil Return’ should be reported. 

6. Where a minister has responsibilities in more than one department, the relevant departments should liaise on that minister’s transparency returns. These departments should normally aim to avoid duplication between their returns, distinguishing travel and meeting entries based on the duties performed for each department. 

Preparing data 

7. The Cabinet Office issues a template to accompany this guidance, which should be used to compile this data. Departments should produce returns in a way that is mindful of the end user - ensuring data is meaningful, accurate and clear. To support data accuracy, best practice is for private offices to collate ministers’ data on an ongoing basis. 

8. Departments should submit draft returns to the Cabinet Office Transparency Data team for review in line with this guidance. Departments should obtain initial clearance from the senior private secretary for all draft ministerial datasets submitted to the Cabinet Office Transparency Data team. Following feedback from the Cabinet Office, finalised returns must be cleared by the minister or senior private secretary prior to publication. 

Publication 

9. Departments are responsible for publishing ministers’ overseas travel and meetings transparency data on GOV.UK on the specified grid slot set by No 10. Departments should ensure returns are made in full for each respective reporting period as outlined below (dates inclusive).

Data for the period of: 

• 1 January to 31 March should be published by the end of June 
• 1 April to 30 June should be published by the end of September 
• 1 July to 30 September should be published by the end of December 
• 1 October to 31 December should be published by the end of March. 

10. Full draft submissions should be shared with the Cabinet Office Transparency Data Team for an advisory check within one calendar month of the end of each reporting period. For example, a draft of the department’s data for the period of 1st January to 31st March should be shared with the Transparency Data team before the end of April. 

11. Returns must be published in accordance with the ‘How to publish’ guidance on GOV.UK: How to publish ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings. This includes publishing overseas travel and meetings as separate CSV files, ensuring files are correctly named and tagged in collection pages on GOV.UK. Do not include the ‘Notes’ sheet of the template file in your publications. 

12. Returns must be published in CSV format using UTF-8 encoding wherever possible. All leading and trailing whitespace, empty rows and empty columns to the right of the dataset should be removed. 

• Google Sheets should use UTF-8 encoding by default when selecting “Download As” - CSV. 
• Recent versions of Excel provide the option to save individual sheets as “CSV UTF-8 (Comma Delimited) (.csv)”. 

13. Departments must not publish this data in other file formats, such as PDF, ODS or XSLX. Departments should undertake a final review of their published datasets once these have been published on https://www.gov.uk/search/transparency-and-freedom-of-information-releases 

Contacts

14. Departments should contact the Cabinet Office Transparency Data Team with any queries on this guidance or the completion of ministerial transparency returns. Questions relating to the principles of declaring ministerial overseas travel and meetings should be directed to the department’s permanent secretary, who may also consult the Cabinet Office.

Annex A: Ministers’ overseas travel 

The principles on ministerial travel are set out in Chapter 10 of the Ministerial Code.

Ministers must ensure that they always make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements, mindful of the government’s commitment to sustainability. To reflect this requirement, ministers must declare details of all overseas travel. 

Departments should include: 

1. Details of all overseas travel undertaken by ministers in an official capacity. 
2. The cost to the department for official travel undertaken by the minister, and their spouse/partner where authorisation to accompany the minister has been given. Costs should include the cost of flights, accommodation, meals, cars and visas etc. 
3. If the visit required the use of hired aircraft, whether a non-scheduled or RAF flight,departments should include the number of people accompanying the minister e.g., officials, special advisers etc. For these trips, departments should provide the total cost of the flight, minus any income from paying passengers external to HM Government. 
4. Where ministers travel on official business, their travel expenses should normally be borne by the department. Where junior ministers accompany senior ministers, all non-scheduled / RAF flight costs should be attributed to the senior minister to avoid duplication. 
5. Where ministers from multiple departments (and their accompanying staff) travel on a single non-scheduled / RAF flight, each senior minister should declare the share of cost as borne by each department. 
6. Departments cross charging expenses should report all expenditure to the relevant ministers’ private office at the point of spend to ensure costs are accurate and complete. 

Departments should not include: 

1. Accommodation and travel costs for accompanying staff, unless the flight was a non-scheduled / RAF flight. 
2. Details of trips that have been cancelled. 
3. Details of any travel undertaken in a party political or social capacity.

How to format and present the data 

• Ensure all ministers are declared on a consolidated departmental ministers’ travel return, including ministers who have no travel to declare over the period (Nil Return). 
• Where a Nil Return applies to one or more ministers, ensure that all subsequent columns are populated with Nil Return. 
• Where a minister has undertaken multiple trips, these should be listed chronologically. 
• Do not include empty rows/ cells between data entries as this will create errors in the data once published online. 
• When collating and editing data in the template, please ensure all internal comments are removed before submitting drafts for consistency checking. 
• Please do not use soft returns i.e., enter the data in each cell separating text using full stops, semicolons, backslashes or commas only. 

Departments may wish to consult the current GDS style guide for help with style, spelling and grammar conventions.

Minister

1. List the minister’s full name for each entry/row using the format, [Forename][Surname].
2. Do not include titles or honorifics. For example, please do not include: ‘Sir/Lady/Baroness/Lord/Dr’, ‘The Rt Hon’, ‘MP/QC’.

Start date / End date

1. List the start and end date of travel using hyphens in the format: YYYY-MM-DD i.e., 2022-10-01. This ensures the date is displayed correctly, and avoids errors caused by differences between common British and International date formats. 
2. Ensure dates correspond to the given reporting period. 
3. Where a visit overlaps two reporting periods, the return should be attributed to the period in which the majority of the visit took place. 
4. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Destination

1. List all destinations in the format City; Country. 
2. Where the minister completed a multi-destination visit, all destinations should be listed within the same entry using semicolons i.e., City; Country, City; Country. 
3. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Purpose of trip

1. Provide a clear, informative description of the main aim of the trip, avoiding generic descriptions e.g., “Bilateral visit’ wherever possible.
2. Any important contextual information, such as ‘to attend the New Tech summit’ should be reflected here only. 
3. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Mode(s) of transport

1. Report the main mode(s) of transport used from the list below: 

• Train 
• Eurostar
• Scheduled flight 
• Non-scheduled flight 
• RAF flight 
• G-GBNI Aircraft 
• Ferry
• Taxi 
• Car 
• Nil Return 

2. Where multiple transport options were used, please report the main modes of travel in turn using commas e.g., Scheduled flight, Train. 

3. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Number of officials who accompanied the minister if non -scheduled flight was taken

1. List the number of officials and special advisers who accompanied the minister. Where the minister was not accompanied, please report 0. 
2. Where the minister did not take any non-scheduled or RAF flights, please report N/A. 
3. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Accompanied by spouse / partner at public expense

1. Please select Yes or No from the drop-down menu. 
2. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Subtotal of all travel costs including any non-scheduled / RAF flights (£)

1. Provide details of all travel expenditure incurred during the trip.
2. Where non-scheduled/ RAF flights were taken, declare the total cost of the flight in GBP, minus any income from paying passengers external to HM Government.
3. Where a minister shared a non-scheduled/RAF flight with a ministerial colleague from another department, including any associated staff, the cost to the department should be declared. 
4. Include numerics only- do not include other characters, commas or text e.g., £. 
5. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Total Cost (£)

1. Report the total cost of the trip to the taxpayer in GBP. 
2. Include numerics only- do not include other characters / commas or text e.g., £. 
3. Where the minister has no travel to declare, please report Nil Return.

Example of data: MINISTERS’ OVERSEAS TRAVEL

Minister	Start Date	End Date	Destination	Purpose of trip	Mode(s) of transport	Number of officials who accompanied the minister, if non-scheduled flight was taken	Accompanied by spouse/partner at public expense	Subtotal of all travel costs including any non-scheduled / RAF flights (£)	Subtotal of associated costs (for minister only), including all visas, accommoda tion, meals etc. (£)	Total Cost (£)
[Name]	2023-11-09	2023-11-13	Madrid; Spain	To attend the [X] Summit	Flight, Train	N/A	No	600.46	2200	2800.46
[Name]	2023-12-01	2023-12-02	Dublin; Ireland	Visit to [X] Company	Flight	N/A	No	285.82	100	385.82
[Name]	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return
[Name]	2023-11-26	2023-11-28	Paris; France	Attendance at [X] summit	Eurostar, Taxi	N/A	No	150	250	400
[Name]	2023-10-01	2023-10-12	New York;USA Washington D.C.; USA	Attendance at the [X] Assembly	Non-scheduled flight	26	Yes	143000	165000	380000
[Name]	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return

Annex B: Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations (including meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, editors and senior executives) 

The principles on ministers’ meetings with external organisations is set out in paragraph 8.13 of the Ministerial Code. 

All meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, editors and senior executives (“senior media figures”) will be published regardless of the purpose of the meeting. 

What is an external organisation, individual or senior media figure? 

1. An external organisation means any group, company or organisation external to government. An external individual means any individual representing their own interests, rather than those of an external organisation. Where a minister meets an external organisation or individual in an official capacity, details of these meetings must be declared. This applies to meetings with lobbyists registered on the Register of Consultant Lobbyists. 

a. Meetings with government and legislative bodies, such as other government departments, NDPBs, non-ministerial departments, members of the Royal Household, executive agencies, government reviews, government advisory groups, representatives of Parliament (unless meeting outside their parliamentary capacity), and devolved or foreign governments would not normally be declared. If, however, any of the above attend a meeting where an external organisation or individual is also present, the meeting must be declared.

2. Senior media figures i.e., newspaper, broadcast, and other media proprietors, editors and senior executives are outlined in the table below. Meetings with media figures of equivalent seniority should also be declared in accordance with these guidelines. 

a. Where ministers meet with senior media figures, the names of the attendees, their job title, and the organisation they represent should be included regardless of the purpose of the meeting. 

b. Official meetings with representatives of media organisations operating below the level of senior media figures must also be declared. 

Senior media figures including Media proprietors, Editors and Senior Executives

Category	Proprietors	Editors	Senior Executives
Newspapers  (including regional publications and online editions)	Chair/ Owner	The Editor, all Senior Editorial Staff including Political, Business, Economic Editors and Deputy Editors.	CEOs
Broadcasters (including regional broadcasters)	Chair/ Owner	All Senior Editorial Staff including Political, Business, Economic and Deputy Editors, Channel Controllers, Directors of Programming and Radio Controllers	Directors General CEOs

Departments should include:

3. Official meetings held in a ministerial capacity with external organisations or individuals, including:

a. Meetings with external organisations held by ministers in the course of visits, including visits overseas, (generally visits on their own are not included). 

b. Meetings held in-person. Remote formal meetings using video or audio-conferencing technology should be included. Audio calls should also be reported where these replace or take the format of an official meeting. 

c. In instances of doubt, departments may consider whether the minister and one or more persons external to government discussed official government business or policy, subject to the exemptions listed below, and whether government resources were used. 

4. All meetings with senior media figures, regardless of whether the meeting was official, social or political. Meetings with media figures of equivalent seniority should also be declared in line with these guidelines. Official meetings with media representatives below this level must also be declared. 

5. The name of the external organisation meeting the minister rather than the individual(s) representing the organisation, with the exception of meetings with senior media figures, in which case the individual, their job title and organisation must be named. Where a meeting was with an individual not connected with an organisation, the name of the individual should be provided, unless they do not have a prominent public profile. Here a generic description should be used instead e.g., ‘Widow of veteran’. 

6. Ministers’ meetings with external organisations at party conferences will generally be in a political capacity so there is no need to normally declare these, unless a senior media figure was also present. However, if ministers exceptionally hold meetings in the margins of Party conferences in an official ministerial capacity, then these should be recorded and published in the normal way.

7. Departments should make every effort to provide a meaningful and clear description of the ‘purpose of the meeting’, succinctly capturing

a. the key topic(s) discussed and; 

b. state any specific area(s) of government policy/ legislation etc., affected. 

c. Broad descriptions such as ‘general discussion’, ‘introductory meeting’, ‘informal catch-up’, ‘bilateral meeting’ etc. should not normally be used. 

d. An example of a good description would be - ‘Discussion during visit to the National Space Centre, on the National Space Strategy and UK investment in the space sector’. 

8. There will be instances where hospitality above de minimis levels^{[footnote 1]} is provided as part of a meeting. Here a corresponding entry should be declared for both meetings and hospitality in accordance with the principles set out in the relevant guidance. 

9. Where a minister met with multiple organisations (e.g., as part of a roundtable), departments should list each organisation or individual in turn. Where it is impracticable to list attendees individually, a descriptive collective name may be used instead e.g., ‘roundtable with UK broadband providers’. 

10. If a minister attended the same meeting as a ministerial colleague from another department, the relevant private offices should liaise to ensure the purpose of the meeting and list of attendees is consistent between departments. There is no need to list the other minister as an attendee. 

11. Meetings with the wider public sector, including local government authorities, schools, emergency services and NHS service providers, unless there is a risk of disclosing classified information or personal data. 

12. Meetings with members of the judiciary. 

Departments should not include: 

13. Information relating to meetings in cases where disclosure would engage exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”). This would most commonly apply to Sections; 23-24, 26, 35-36 and 43 of “the Act”. Departments should give due consideration as to whether a careful account of these meetings would allow these to be declared, particularly in instances where there is already a record of the meeting in the public domain. 

14. Where an individual represents an organisation, their name should not be included, with the exception of senior media figures. Private individuals without a public profile should also not be named. Here a generic description should be used instead e.g., ‘Widow of veteran’. 

15. Minister’s own constituency meetings held in their capacity as an MP, unless a meeting has an impact on the ministerial role, or ministerial decisions are made. The Cabinet Office can provide advice in cases of doubt. 

16. Whether external engagement would be considered to be a meeting should be decided by departments on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the principle set out in point 3. Visits (e.g., tours), speeches, attendance at seminars, conferences, receptions, media interviews/ etc., would not automatically be classed as meetings, except where a minister took away views and discussion points from attendees on matters of government business through active engagement (e.g., substantive Q&A or in-depth discussions). 

17. Meetings with government bodies such as other government departments, non-departmental public bodies, non-ministerial departments, members of the Royal Household, executive agencies, government reviews and government advisory groups, representatives of Parliament (unless meeting outside their parliamentary capacity), devolved or foreign governments. If any of the above attend a meeting alongside external organisations or individuals not covered by this exemption, the meeting should be declared including the names of these organisations or individuals only. 

18. Meetings regarding contracted services being provided to departments (e.g., head-hunters, IT providers or facilities contractors). However, meetings with contracted organisations outside of the terms of their contract(s), for example to discuss broad industry trends, should be included. 

19. Meetings with departmental Non-Executive Directors, unless operating in the capacity of other, non-government roles they may hold. 

How to format and present the data 

• Ensure all ministers are declared on a consolidated departmental ministers’ meetings return, including ministers who are not declaring any meetings for this period (Nil Return). 
• Where a Nil Return applies to one or more ministers, ensure that all subsequent columns are populated with Nil Return. 
• Where a minister has multiple meetings to declare, these should be listed chronologically. 
• Do not include empty rows/cells between data entries, as this will create errors in the data once published online. 
• When collating and editing data in the template, please ensure all internal comments are removed before submitting drafts for consistency checking. 
• Please do not use soft returns i.e., enter the data in each cell, separating text using full stops, semicolons, backslashes or commas only. 
• Departments may wish to consult the current GDS style guide, for help with style, spelling and grammar conventions. 

Minster

1. List the minister’s full name for each entry/row using the format, [Forename][Surname] e.g., Jo Bloggs. 
2. Do not include titles or honorifics. For example, please do not include: ‘Sir/Lady/Baroness/Lord/Dr’, ‘The Rt Hon’, ‘MP/QC’.

Date

1. List the date the meeting took place using hyphens in the format: YYYY-MM-DD i.e., 2023-10-01. This ensures the date is displayed correctly, and avoids errors caused by differences between common British and International date formats. 
2. Ensure dates correspond to the given reporting period.  Where a minister did not meet with external organisations or individuals, please report Nil Return.

Name of Individual or Organisation

1. Include names of Individual(s) or organisation(s) in this column, with the exception of senior media figures, where the job title should also be included using the format, First name, Surname, Role, Organisation. 
2. Report organisation names in full, spelling out any acronyms for greater accessibility, except where these are in common use e.g., BBC. 
3. Honorifics may be used here. 
4. Do not include contextual information e.g., ‘meeting with’ / ‘telephone call to discuss’ etc. 
5. Where a minister did not meet with external organisations or individuals, please report Nil Return.

Purpose of Meeting

1. Provide a clear, informative description of the main topic(s) of discussion or meeting objective(s) and any area of policy implicated. 
2. Broad descriptions e.g., ‘general discussion’, ‘introductory meeting’, and ‘general catch-up’ should not be used. 
3. Contextual information e.g., ‘meeting / ‘telephone call to discuss’ etc., should be included here only.
4. Where a minister did not meet with external organisations or individuals, please report Nil Return.

Example of data: MINISTERS’ MEETINGS WITH EXTERNAL INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS (INCLUDING MEETINGS WITH NEWSPAPER AND OTHER MEDIA PROPRIETORS, EDITORS AND SENIOR EXECUTIVES)

Minister	Date	Name of Individual or Organisation	Purpose of meeting
[Name]	2023-11-30	[X] Charity	Discussion of the impact of Covid-19 on youth employment in the retail sector
[Name]	2023-12-02	[Name], Political Editor, Broadcaster Y	To discuss the findings of the Green Tech Emissions Review
[Name]	2023-12-03	[X] organisation	To discuss the impact of Covid-19 on apprenticeships in the UK manufacturing sector
[Name]	2023-12-04	Member of the public	Discussion on the benefits of improvements in transport accessibility
[Name]	Nil Return	Nil Return	Nil Return

1. Hospitality under de minimis levels includes minor refreshments e.g., tea, coffee, sandwich lunches etc.. ↩