£25 grand brekkie
In the news this week:
Fry up costs us £25,000- "When Denis Breading went for a fried breakfast at his work canteen it was meant to be a short break before getting on with his job. Instead he has been suspended for the past six weeks during an investigation into claims that he tried to avoid paying the £1.60 he owed for the meal. During this time he says his employers, the Legal Services Commission - which runs the legal aid scheme - has spent £10,000 of taxpayers' money attempting to prove he "misused public funds"... In all, the great fry-up fiasco could land the public with a £25,000 bill. Mr Breading insists he has done nothing wrong. He claims no staff were present to take his money and he was still eating in the canteen when he was accused of "thieving". (Mail 14.11.07)
£2.4bn pa on new quangos- "Gordon Brown is creating NINE new busybody quangos costing £2.4 BILLION. That pushes the number of bureaucratic organisations interfering in our lives to 528 with a combined bill of £175billion. The move comes despite Mr Brown vowing in 1995 that a Labour government would ABOLISH most quangos. They land each taxpayer with a bill of £2,000 a year - even more if NHS trusts and the BBC are included... Meanwhile quangos like the Sugar Beet Research and Education Committee and the Home Grown Cereals Authority will continue." (People 18.11.07)
£6m pa to run hollow department- "TWENTY staff are employed at the £6 million-a-year Scotland Office to cope with just three letters a day. The Scotland Office occupies plush Dover House in Whitehall... but its role has shrunk dramatically since devolution in 1999... 20 staff employed to deal with mail replied to 1252 letters in 2006-2007 - just over one per member of staff every week. The letter scandal follows a series of damning reports on money-wasting at the department. Its 50 staff, who work between Edinburgh and Dover House, claimed £75,000 hotel expenses last year and another £8000 on hiring plants." (Sunday Mail 18.11.07)
Another £1.68bn for Euro-satellites- "Serious concerns have been raised about the merits of the Galileo global navigation satellite system... MPs on the transport committee say the European Commission is requesting a further €2.4 billion (£1.68 billion) for the project to continue, effectively asking UK taxpayers to contribute to a spiralling bill for the project... Committee chair Gwyneth Dunwoody said... "The government must stop this folly, and endeavour to bring the European Commission to its senses. The commission is poised to spend billions of taxpayers' money on a satellite system without any realistic assessment of its costs and benefits." (In the News 12.11.07)
Total for week- £4,086,025,000