Cabinet Secretary's limo clocks up £1,500 a month The fifteen months of car expense claims made by Sir Jeremy cover the period January 1 2011 until March 31 2012. In the three months to March 31 this year, Sir Jeremy's "use of taxi/official car" costs is reported at £2,474. In addition to paying for his own official car on his expenses as a "benefit in kind," Sir Jeremy has also met the cost of "shared official cars" which amounts to £4,834 of the five figure expense. The civil servant, who raised eyebrows in June when he told an Institute for Government conference that the country should brace itself for a further eight years of spending cuts, began claiming expenses for the use of his official car before the Coalition Government was formed. The perk forms part of his pay package at the Cabinet Office, which amounted to as much as £204,500 last year, including a bonus of up to £20,000. Disclosure of the expenses claims made by senior officials are part of the transparency drive that the Prime Minister championed. 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 shared with the Head of the Civil Service. It is also used by others in the Cabinet Office. He adds that, in the Government car service, there is a choice of two vehicles - a Jaguar or a Prius. Department of fine wines If the country is experiencing a hangover from Labour's days in office, it most certainly isn't anything to do with the quality of the wines its grandees selected. In a store room at the Department for Communities and Local Government, a number of cases of Changyu Cabernet Gernischt 2001 were last week discovered by the Coalition forces. "This Chinese wine is well regarded and has won awards," says my vintner. I wouldn't say the 2001 was their best vintage, but it was good, and, whoever ordered it was ahead of the game and certainly no pleb. Waitrose only started selling Chinese wine towards the end of last month. Changyu is China's oldest and largest wine producer.