In respect of the Minister's department's Reform of Government Savings Scorecard (November 2007 to May 2010, page 2), what sum of savings (a) has been delivered, and (b) was budgeted to be delivered, under the new contractual arrangements for the provision of domestic and international air services and Travel Management Services to the Government in 2010-11.

 Mr Swan: The Minister for Finance and Deregulation has supplied the following answer to the honourable member’s question:

(a) Savings totalling $160 million over the four financial years commencing 2010-11 have been returned to the Budget, by reducing agencies’ appropriations. It is not possible to be specific about the level of savings retained by agencies because travel patterns change over time to reflect operational needs. However, analysis of the top 30 most travelled domestic routes indicate, that on average, prices paid have reduced by about 30 per cent in 2010-11. This is an indication that agencies are also retaining benefits.

(b) The total savings budgeted were $160 million to be returned to the Budget, with agencies retaining $20 million in benefit annually.