Staff at the National Policing Improvement Agency ran up a credit card bill of more than £6.5million, freedom of information requests have revealed. Credit card statement statements show an astonishing   range of items were purchased using the cards, from lingerie, beehives, wellington boots to “Duck tours” on the Thames. Around 150 members of staff have such credit cards and they racked up an average spend of £20,000 a year, each, this follows releases of credit card statements by Government departments and councils. Continue Reading

In 2007, The Argus asked whether taxpayers in Sussex were getting value for money from SEEDA, the South East England Development Agency. They returned to the topic last week, to coincide with the agency’s closure, and SEEDA’s apparent desire to make the most of it.

Staff are being given pay-offs totalling £5.7 million, an average of £51,000 each. To compound this, the organisation spent £17 million on three offices between 2005 and 2010. Throughout its existence, SEEDA and its counterparts across England have been dogged by accusations of complacency and incompetence. Continue Reading

Another week, another example of wasteful spending on Government Procurement Cards (GPCs). This time, it’s the Health Protection Agency who have indulged at taxpayers’ expense. Their spending on GPCs cost taxpayers over £3 million in 2008-09 and 2009-10. At a time when families are cutting back on luxuries, the HPA spent £1,200 at a four-star mansion. Continue Reading

Leather handbags, tattoo ink, sun beds, luxury golf courses and expensive hotels may sound like the spending of A-list celebrities, but what about that of a government watchdog? The Daily Telegraph revealed this week that the Health and Safety executive used government procurement cards to charge an astounding £6 million of extravagant expenditure over a two year period, paid for by the taxpayer. Continue Reading

The latest in a series of investigations by the Daily Telegraph into public bodies’ use of credit cards exposes the bills run up by local authority chief executives across the UK. Earlier this year we led the campaign to uncover huge amounts being spent by Whitehall civil servants racking up million pound credit card bills, and have exposed similar waste at many of Britain’s biggest quangos.

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This morning the Government began publishing all spending over £500 on Government Procurement Cards (GPCs). Earlier this year we launched a campaign against wasteful spending on GPCs and other corporate credit cards, uncovering millions of pounds that was previously insufficiently monitored. Continue Reading

In the latest of a series of investigations into spending on Government Procurement Cards we have learned that staff at the Office of Fair Trading dined out at a branch of smutty American bar and grill chain Hooters and charged the £80 bill to taxpayers.

At the other end of the spectrum, about £2,400 of dining at exclusive London restaurants Patterson’s and Chez Gerrard also appeared on credit card statements obtained by us through an FOI request. Taxpayers might be shocked to hear that the quango in charge of ensuring we don’t get ripped off spent taxpayers’ money in an inappropriate venue such as Hooters, or at such pricey restaurants.

The consumer watchdog charged taxpayers about £38,000 in total for food and drink in the last two years. Naturally some of this will have been legitimate spending on subsistence for staff who were travelling on business but, as these examples show, some of this spending was questionable or extravagant.

Other items of spending from the last two years that stood out were:

• £90,000 on flights
• £10,000 on stays at five-star hotels, including the Grand Hyatt, Cairo and Sunrise Beach Resort, Vietnam
• £500 at a jeweller in Liverpool
• £440 for a training course at the National Theatre
• £386 at Lutyens, near St Paul’s in London
• £100 on food at the Connaught Hotel in Mayfair

You can view the spending data below, or to download the full dataset, click here

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The National Audit Office (NAO) has this morning confirmed what the TPA has said for some time: that Government Procurement Cards (GPCs) do have the potential to save money but that current procedures are far too lax, and that Whitehall departments have become complacent in their oversight.

The NAO report reveals that more than £322 million was spent on GPC’s in 2010-11 alone, covering 1.75 million transactions. Their findings also show that of this, almost 75 per cent was spent by the Ministry of Defence alone, with a total spend of £237 million. Continue Reading

In the latest of a series of releases on quango credit card spending, as part of our campaign for more transparency and accountability, the TaxPayers’ Alliance today reveals new information about corporate credit card spending by Arts Council England staff during the 2010-11 financial year. Although the Arts Council England revealed a 6 per cent decline in funding of the arts in the same period, employees were still able to spend vast amounts on their corporately-settled credit cards.

The key findings of this research are:

• During 2010-11 the Arts Council England spent more than a quarter of a million pounds on corporately-settled credit cards.
• In 2010-11 the Arts Council spent at least £46,000 on hotel bills alone.
• Employees and guests of the Arts Council had all the amenities of boutique, luxury and 5 star hotels. Stays included £3,700 at the Park Plaza chain, £716 on a stay at luxury serviced apartments in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Festival and £586 at Abode hotels in Manchester and Exeter.
• The Arts Council spent almost £60,000 on restaurants. This included £457 for an executive board dinner at the award-winning Bills Produce Store; £483 for staff dinner at Nottingham fine dining restaurant, The Memsaab; £340 at Quirinale in Westminster – Zagat’s and Harden’s top rated Italian restaurant in London; and Iberica which received a Bibe Gourmand from the Michelin guide.
• Arts Council employees racked up £232 at the Cinnamon Club in Westminster, known for its extensive wine list and ate at Master Chef Judge John Torode’s Smiths of Smithfield, which cost £420. Employees also spent £155 at Oddbins.
• The Chief Executive’s Office enjoyed lunches at The Wolseley restaurant by the Ritz on Piccadilly costing £114; as well as popping in to J Sheekey, an Oyster bar in Covent Garden, where they left taxpayers with a £110 bill.
• More than £4,000 was spent on flights and £1,500 on car hire. £8,280 was spent on parking.
• Flights included a visit to Venice for the Venice biennale opening ceremony, £8 for Easyjet priority boarding and flights to Exeter and Brighton for meetings.
• While on the go and away from the office, employees spent over £870 on internet access from trains to high-speed connection in hotel rooms. Arts Council employees also spent over £95 to replace Blackberry chargers and a further £60 for an office docking station.
• Miscellaneous office expenses included an £80 Magimix kettle from John Lewis, a £60 pedal bin for the loo, £90 for non-branded lanyards and £20 for a USB fan. A grand total of £232 was spent on flowers.
• The Arts Council spent a further £624 on office Christmas decorations, which included a tree and decorations for £60 and £80 for a stand.

Click here to view a spreadsheet with more details of spending

Emma Boon, Campaign Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“It’s clear that there is a culture of excess at the Arts Council, with thousands spent on stays in 5-star hotels and staff jetting around Europe. This is on top of the millions they already spend on barmy projects like the Cultural Olympiad. There are some legitimate expenses that have been put on these cards, and they can be a good way for taxpayers to track where their money is going, but the bills must be published in full. It’s scandalous to ask hard-working families, struggling to pay their own bills, to pick up the tab for staff to dine at fancy restaurants or stay the night at luxury hotels.”