The cost of running a fleet of just 87 ministerial cars cost the Government almost £6 million last year.

This works out at more than £113,000 a week – a cost one lease car provider has described as “another case of government extravagance”.

The Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) charged ministers £5.9 million to have the use of the cars and drivers.

The GCDA runs a fleet of 207 cars, not including cars provided to ministers.

It is these additional 84 ministerial cars (down from 87 last year) that are costing the Government almost £6 million annually.

“No way in the world should it cost £5.9 million to run 87 ministerial cars, even taking into account the cost of administration, the chauffeurs and an understandable requirement for security features on vehicles,” said Roddy Graham, commercial director of Leasedrive Velo.

“Without even looking at this case in depth we are convinced that we can save tax payers millions of pounds on this one tiny project alone.”

A spokesman for the GCDA said it does it have a monopoly on providing ministerial cars.

“Other contractors can be used at each customer's discretion.

"As GCDA is part of Government, there is no need for a tendering process and service level agreements are used instead.

"This does not however prevent other organisations from seeking out Government work."

Some of the cars are not even in full-time use, with the spokesman confirming that some ministers only require a car for “a couple of days a week”.

Ministers confirm to the GCDA at the start of each year how many days a week they require a car, which may have additional security features and will also include fuel and a security-cleared driver.

“We exist to help government departments and the wider public sector achieve efficiency and savings by providing these services direct,” says the GDCA website.

It points out that Government departments do not have “to go through a time-consuming tender process” and that “we can also keep our prices consistently low”.

"The costs of running the ministerial fleet include the direct costs of the service – that is the driver’s salary, pension and national insurance costs and the cost of providing the car – and also the indirect costs associated with running a government agency, such as administration and management costs, premises and other fixed overheads,” said a Department for Transport spokesman.

But, as fleet industry expert consultant, Colin Tourick, points out what one government department charges another should not make a difference to the taxpayer.

“However, there are some real issues here.

"If some of these cars are only used for a couple of days a week, it means that the cars and dedicated drivers must be underemployed for most of the time.

"A good fleet manager would reduce the number of cars and drivers and organise a simple booking system to ensure these resources were fully employed,” he said.

“Nine leasing companies supply vehicles to the NHS and other government departments using an efficient online tendering system organised by the Office of Government Commerce.

"This ensures the public sector gets every car as cheaply as possible and it is hard to see why these 87 cars should not go through this process, even if they do have to have security modifications.

“The Government can’t have it both ways: if tendering is a 'time-consuming' process that does not allow the public sector to keep its costs 'consistently low', NHS Trusts should no longer have to use the tendering system and should be able to lease cars from any contract hire company they choose.

"The element of difference here between this and a regular fleet operation is security. It’s a serious issue; the staff have to be vetted, the cars modified.

"It’s not the sort of thing the government would outsource.

"But they could manage their underutilised resources better and could get the cars via competitive tender, to be sure.”

Stewart Whyte, director of fleet consultancy, Fleet Audits, said the £5.9 million bill facing Government each year for the use of the ministerial cars and drivers is not excessive.

“We have some experience of dealing with a number of VIPs within wider fleets and our findings are that the car is only one part of the equation.

"For example, there is a whole range of security issues over drivers, schedulers, maintenance technicians and so on, and these tend to overshadow the relatively small differences in the actual cost of provision of the cars themselves,” he said.

“So long as the whole government car system is regulated and well managed, and meets EU procurement regulations, there seems to me no need for individual departments to tender for their own small group of cars…

"While cost control of the fleet is of course essential, for a situation like the ministerial cars it is right and proper to look at a much wider picture in which the whole-life costs of the cars is just one small part of the equation.”

A GCDA spokesman said: “The costs of the GCDA are published regularly, and are subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

"All cars purchased by the GCDA are purchased through established OJEC-approved contracts or though call of contracts negotiated by other Government departments to make sure the Government is getting the best value for money.”