Government cuts back its fleet

THE ministries of the Inland Revenue and presidency are the two ministries with the greatest number of official cars.

The total number of official cars registered for use by government ministries is 303 cars and 411 chauffeurs and the Inland Revenue and public administration ministry has 58 of them with 78 chauffeurs. They are seconded only by the ministry of the presidency which presently has 38 vehicles and 50 chauffeurs. In equal third place came the ministries of economy and foreign affairs which have 31 cars and 42 chauffeurs each.

When the present government took over from the Zapatero government they reduced the fleet, as promised, from its previous high of 921 cars which were for general use and assigned cars to each ministry therefore cutting down on the number of vehicles needed.

The reduction of the number of cars was achieved by selling them off at auction and reducing the number of chauffeurs was achieved by simply not hiring any new staff when one of them retired.