The Cabinet Office provided eight cars for ministers, including the PM

The cost of providing 86 ministerial cars in 2006-07 was �5,902,900 - up from �5.47m the previous year.

The Cabinet Office used the most cars - eight - for the prime minister, its own ministers and the chief whip.

Former deputy prime minister John Prescott - once dubbed "Two Jags" - was near the bottom of the list.

The Department for Education and Skills used seven cars, costing �464,900, matching the Home Office's tally which spent slightly more at �487,500.

Also near the top of the list was the Department of Health, with six cars costing �387,100 for the year.

The combined bill for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Department for Communities and Local Government, which was created after John Prescott's department was abolished, was six cars at �393,900.

The Treasury, during the final year of Gordon Brown's chancellorship, had five ministerial cars, costing �346,700 to run.