Full sources
Page 2
£5.6 billion of wasted taxpayers’ money
Page 3
£102,456 cost of a wellness app for staff
Source: Contracts finder
Page 4
£449 spent on a Herman Miller office chair
Source: FOI
Page 5
£47,529 spent on takeaways
Source: FOI
Page 6
£3,299 on luxury dog beds for Border Force dog teams
Source: Home Office spending data
Row 67
Page 7
£70 on the speaking clock
Source: FOI
Page 8
£1,039 spent on a ‘sit-stand’ electric desk and chair
Source: FOI
Page 9
£2,253 for an event at Bristol Zoo
Source: DEFRA spending data
Row 5
Page 10
£23,449 spent on travel
Source: HM Treasury spending data
Page 11
Lavish meals paid for by you
Source: Departmental spending data
DEFRA | London Scottish House | 2,003 |
Cabinet Office | The Delaunay | 1,000 |
Dept. for International Trade | Hoxton Grill | 900 |
DBEIS | The Cinnamon Club | 655 |
Page 12-13
£6,372 paid to Harley Street clinic Cosmebeaute
Source: FCDO spending data, August 2020
Rows 38 and 42
£4,428 spent on ‘entertainment’ at Silverstone racetrack
Source: FCO spending data, March 2020
Row 119
£25,831 on flowers
Source: FCDO spending data
Page 14
£206,638 on interior design spending and ‘facilities/repair supplies
Source: FCDO Services spending data and FCO spending data
Card purchases |
Total Spend £ |
Colefax and Fowler (Belgravia) |
32,198.53 |
Tom Faulkner (Chelsea) |
28,218.00 |
Made.com |
13,452.00 |
Ercol Furniture |
11,681.90 |
John Lewis |
10,801.90 |
Eco Timber Panels |
8,367.29 |
7,963.00 |
|
Pierre Frey UK (Chelsea Harbour) |
6,858.00 |
George Spencer Designs (Chelsea Harbour) |
6,697.20 |
Oka Direct (Chelsea) |
6,484.50 |
West Elm |
6,250.95 |
Osborne & Little (Chelsea) |
5611.82 |
Habitat |
3,670.00 |
Regent Antiques |
4,944.00 |
Littlepaint.com |
4,939.18 |
Titley & Marr |
4,466.88 |
Soho Home |
3,750.19 |
Houlès (Chelsea Harbour) |
3,097.20 |
Charlotte James Furniture |
2,861.40 |
Complete Fabrication |
2,780.64 |
I & JL Brown (Chelsea) |
2,464.32 |
Kings Road Antiques |
2,464.32 |
David Seyfried (Chelsea Harbour) |
2,180.00 |
Pooky Lighting (Chelsea) |
2,164.20 |
The Chair Company |
2,136.62 |
Andrew Martin (Chelsea Harbour) |
2,055.00 |
Fox Linton (Chelsea Harbour) |
1,893.60 |
Wayfair |
1,717.81 |
Blithfield and Company (Kensington) |
1,448.28 |
Office Furniture Online |
1,374.60 |
Qualita |
1,344.00 |
Designer Guild |
1,312.80 |
Casefurniture.Com |
1,186.50 |
Howe (Belgravia) |
1,104.00 |
Timorous Beasties (Islington) |
1,053.35 |
Bed, Bath and Beyond |
972.94 |
Crest Leathers |
957.37 |
Express Matting |
947.84 |
Rugstore.org |
831.99 |
Lewis & Wood (Chelsea Harbour) |
734.16 |
House of Hackney |
628.78 |
Rockett St George |
570.50 |
Total: |
£206,637.56 |
Page 15
£912,455 spent on investigating the effect of covid-19 on women’s rights in Libya
Sources: Contracts finder
Page 16
£24,816 spent on PPE for the Ukrainian army
Source: Contracts finder
Page 17
£34,500 on 17 non-refundable flights
Source: FOI
£6,945 on first class flights for a 2-day trip to the US
Source: MoD expenses data
Row 529
Page 18-19
£432,071 acquiring artwork for government buildings
Source: FOI
Table of artwork here
£34,865 transferring artwork to Tokyo
Source: Contracts finder
Page 20-21
15 councils spent £9,696 on portraits of council bosses to hang in town halls
Source: FOI
Council | Amount £ |
Adur and Worthing | 400.00 |
Barnet | 250.00 |
Charnwood | 671.40 |
Denbighshire | 145.00 |
Derry City & Strabane | 615.00 |
Devon | 470.61 |
Essex | 3,759.00 |
Hertfordshire | 581.00 |
Hertsmere | 473.00 |
Milton Keynes | 500.00 |
Newport | 890.00 |
North East Derbyshire | 218.50 |
Oldham | 157.00 |
Rochford | 340.00 |
South Lakeland | 225.00 |
Total | 9,695.51 |
Page 22
£17,258 spent on artwork
Source: FOI
Page 23
£401,615 to buy laptops and £181,023 on mobile phones for staff
Source: FOI
Page 24-25
44 hard-up councils spent £89,937 on foreign visits
Source: FOI
Council | Amount £ |
Anglesey | 3,694.75 |
Angus | 5,727.92 |
Antrim and Newtonabbey | 12,820.67 |
Ards & North Down | 4,262.16 |
Arun | 147.50 |
Basingstoke | 1,148.45 |
Bolton | 1,835.08 |
Cambridge City | 321.36 |
Cannock Chase | 1,558.24 |
Canterbury | 238.59 |
Charnwood | 2,047.52 |
Chelmsford | 283.06 |
Cheltenham | 2,212.00 |
Chesterfield | 1,564.37 |
Dartford | 1,001.21 |
Dundee City | 2,272.00 |
Eastleigh | 1,548.80 |
Exeter | 1,938.31 |
Fareham | 586.97 |
Gravesham | 1,251.85 |
Ipswich | 172.00 |
Kettering | 450.00 |
Knowsley | 2,844.56 |
Lancashire | 3,835.44 |
Lancaster | 535.00 |
Leicester City | 3,407.23 |
North East Lincolnshire | 2,207.26 |
Norwich City | 4,121.40 |
Oxfordshire | 1,836.76 |
Pendle | 376.50 |
Perth & Kinross | 2,402.08 |
Plymouth | 841.30 |
Portsmouth | 380.54 |
Rotherham | 104.00 |
Runnymede | 335.96 |
Salford | 821.88 |
Shetland | 1,801.15 |
South Tyneside | 643.96 |
Southampton | 1,726.90 |
Staffordshire | 602.27 |
Torbay | 975.08 |
Wakefield | 11,514.00 |
Windsor and Maidenhead | 308.68 |
York | 1,231.85 |
Total | 89,936.61 |
Page 26
£245,026 on dog poo bags
Source: FOI
Council | Amount £ |
Bexley | 2,174.00 |
Bournemouth | 935.00 |
Bridgend County | 8,000.00 |
Bristol City | 935.70 |
Buckinghamshire | 220.00 |
Cannock Chase | 1,179.00 |
Castle Point | 7,281.52 |
Central Bedfordshire | 200.00 |
Chelmsford | 3,400.00 |
Cherwell | 10,421.60 |
Cheshire West and Chester | 1,975.00 |
Chesterfield | 195.00 |
Chorley | 389.20 |
Dartford | 783.30 |
Derry City & Strabane | 1,507.50 |
Doncaster | 3,000.00 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 10,604.00 |
East Ayrshire | 16,200.00 |
East Staffordshire | 508.00 |
Falkirk | 21,200.00 |
Fareham | 396.58 |
Fenland | 604.00 |
Flintshire | 440.00 |
Gwynedd | 1,300.00 |
Hart | 440.20 |
Lambeth | 3,000.00 |
Lancaster City Council | 3,381.00 |
Lisburn & Castlereagh City | 5,252.11 |
Malvern Hills | 1,000.00 |
Midlothian | 5,695.00 |
Newark & Sherwood | 100.00 |
Newry, Mourne and Down | 2,870.40 |
North Ayrshire | 5,848.00 |
North East Derbyshire and Bolsover District Councils | 2,115.00 |
North Lanarkshire | 18,966.36 |
North Norfolk | 872.40 |
Orkney Islands | 1,935.00 |
Preston City Council | 25.56 |
Reading | 21.00 |
Rochdale | 4,702.80 |
Sevenoaks | 1,130.00 |
Shetland | 918.00 |
Shropshire | 754.00 |
South Ayrshire | 1,390.69 |
South Somerset | 28.31 |
South Tyneside | 405.00 |
Spelthorne | 38,804.00 |
Stafford | 2,040.00 |
Stirling | 4,200.00 |
Tandridge | 119.38 |
Test Valley | 64.30 |
Tunbridge Wells | 8,055.00 |
Wakefield | 678.24 |
Waverley | 5,500.00 |
West Dunbartonshire | 26,754.20 |
West Lothian | 1,327.50 |
Westminster City | 1,484.00 |
Wokingham | 299.40 |
Wychavon | 1,000.00 |
Total | 245,026.25 |
Page 27
£11,514 on a friendship agreement
Source: FOI
Page 28-29
The UK has spent at least £81 million on aid to China
£3,900,000 improving Chinese weather forecasting
Source: Met Office
The Climate Science for Service Partnership China was launched in 2014, and is a scientific research project aimed at making China's economic growth 'weather resistant'. This amount was for Grant Funds available for the period April 2020 – March 2021
£3,481,571 R&D of offshore wind farms
Source: Dev Tracker
5 projects totalling this amount.
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R007470_1
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R007497_2
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R007519_1
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R007632_1
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R007756_1
£1,045,327 research on flooding
Source: Dev Tracker
4 projects totalling this amount
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R024553_1
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R02491X_1
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R024979_1
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-EP_R034214_1
£519,399 Shaun the Sheep in Shanghai
Source: UKRI
2 projects totalling this amount
- https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FT011424%2F1
- https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FT001305%2F1
£338,391 boosting apple harvests
Source: Dev Tracker
£884,999: Pandemic prevention
Source: Dev Tracker
2 projects totalling this amount
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-BB_R013071_1
- https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-BB_R012679_1
£478,906 teaching the Chinese how to grow rice
Source: Dev Tracker
£166,535 engaging new urban audiences in China with Chinese opera
Source: Dev Tracker
£21,732 design of a mascot for the city of Shanghai's Performing Arts and Screen Industries
Source: UKRI
£290,000 taking Shakespeare’s plays to China
Source: Arts Council accounts
Page 85
Page 30
£7,923,782 spent hiring hundreds of ‘diversity and inclusion’ employees
Source: FOI
Constabulary | Amount £ |
Avon and Somerset | 302,884.00 |
Bedfordshire Police | - |
British Transport Police | 106,236.69 |
Cambridgeshire Constabulary | - |
Cheshire Constabulary | 735,627.00 |
City of London Police | 117,867.00 |
Cleveland Police | - |
Cumbria Constabulary | 82,539.00 |
Derbyshire Constabulary | 408,200.00 |
Devon and Cornwall Constabulary | 221,152.00 |
Dorset Police | 559,583.00 |
Durham Constabulary | 61,381.00 |
Dyfed-Powys Police | - |
Essex Police | 109,458.00 |
Gloucestershire Constabulary | - |
Greater Manchester Police | - |
Gwent Police | - |
Hampshire Constabulary | 239,184.36 |
Hertfordshire Constabulary | - |
Humberside Police | 114,127.00 |
Kent Police | 192,083.00 |
Lancashire Constabulary | - |
Leicestershire Constabulary | 328,217.00 |
Lincolnshire Police | - |
Merseyside Police | 149,628.00 |
Metropolitan Police Service | - |
Norfolk Constabulary | 609,855.00 |
North Wales Police | 495,660.95 |
North Yorkshire Police | - |
Northamptonshire Police | - |
Northumbria Police | 359,004.00 |
Nottinghamshire Police | - |
Police Scotland | 463,000.00 |
Police Service of Northern Ireland | 605,475.21 |
South Wales Police | 143,078.00 |
South Yorkshire Police | - |
Staffordshire Police | 115,834.00 |
Suffolk Constabulary | - |
Surrey Police | - |
Sussex Police | - |
Thames Valley Police | 558,453.08 |
Warwickshire Police | - |
West Mercia Police | 258,476.00 |
West Midlands Police | 342,714.00 |
West Yorkshire Police | - |
Wiltshire Police | 244,065.00 |
TOTAL | £7,923,782.29 |
Page 31
BBC golden goodbyes: £23.4 million paid out to 331 staff between 2019-20
Source: BBC annual accounts
Page 62
Page 32-33
BBC splashes taxpayers’ cash on staff expenses
Source: BBC expenses data
£303,987 claimed by top 38 BBC bosses - total by executive
Full Name |
Amount £ |
Ken Macquarrie |
25,414.30 |
Jamie Angus |
23,212.72 |
Matthew Postgate |
20,719.20 |
Alice Webb |
19,813.08 |
Piers Wenger |
19,776.89 |
Ian Haythornthwaite |
18,290.34 |
Tony Hall |
18,288.76 |
Fran Unsworth |
17,535.91 |
Matt Grest |
16,845.32 |
Fiona Campbell |
14,574.21 |
Barbara Slater |
9,683.90 |
Charlotte Moore |
8,641.75 |
James Purnell |
8,045.75 |
Shane Allen |
7,763.33 |
Bal Samra |
7,426.43 |
Rose Garnett |
7,093.31 |
Bob Shennan |
6,812.72 |
Robin Pembrooke |
6,666.66 |
Cheryl Taylor |
6,309.18 |
Dan McGolpin |
5,806.86 |
Graham Ellis |
5,343.83 |
Kate Phillips |
4,213.42 |
Alison Kirkham |
3,883.46 |
Balram Veliath |
2,895.32 |
Kamal Ahmed |
2,695.64 |
Shirley Cameron |
2,540.46 |
Patrick Holland |
2,355.20 |
Glyn Isherwood |
2,246.47 |
Kerris Bright |
1,779.52 |
Lucy Richer |
1,463.22 |
Francesca Unsworth |
1,462.95 |
Robert Shennan |
1,443.23 |
Sarah Jones |
856.76 |
John Shield |
766.60 |
Stuart Page |
451.72 |
Dale Haddon |
388.70 |
Alan Dickson |
255.95 |
Anna Gronmark |
224.33 |
Total |
£303,987.40 |
£18,427 spent on taxis - total by executive
Full Name |
Amount £ |
Ken Macquarrie |
2,361.89 |
Bal Samra |
1,752.00 |
Matt Grest |
1,665.42 |
Rose Garnett |
1,448.62 |
Charlotte Moore |
1,110.51 |
Alice Webb |
1,086.88 |
Bob Shennan |
934.18 |
Jamie Angus |
915.97 |
Barbara Slater |
888.34 |
Kate Phillips |
673.69 |
Piers Wenger |
640.56 |
Ian Haythornthwaite |
568.85 |
Fran Unsworth |
542.88 |
Fiona Campbell |
542.62 |
Shane Allen |
463.86 |
Alison Kirkham |
455.18 |
James Purnell |
268.32 |
Tony Hall |
260.36 |
Robin Pembrooke |
250.35 |
Francesca Unsworth |
249.44 |
Matthew Postgate |
248.31 |
Robert Shennan |
243.73 |
Cheryl Taylor |
207.16 |
Kamal Ahmed |
188.27 |
Glyn Isherwood |
150.85 |
Patrick Holland |
118.00 |
Shirley Cameron |
83.24 |
Dan McGolpin |
45.11 |
Graham Ellis |
37.41 |
Sarah Jones |
13.13 |
Balram Veliath |
12.12 |
Total |
£18,427.25 |
£7,483 spent on a return business class flight to Seattle for the former chief technology officer
Source: BBC expenses data
£1,430 stay at boutique hotel in LA for three executives (per person)
Source: BBC expenses data
Fiona Campbell, Patrick Holland, Dan McGolphin
£9,005 2 business class flights for former director general Tony Hall to Nairobi and Delhi
Source: BBC expenses data
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/whoweare/central-bookings/tony-hall-cbs-q4-2019-20.pdf http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/whoweare/central-bookings/tony-hall-cbs-q3-2019-20.pdf
£6,597 return business class flight to LA for the head of drama
Source: BBC expenses data
£287 at the 5* Abano Grand Hotel for the head of drama
Source: BBC expenses data
Page 34-35
Trade Unions
£81 million of taxpayers’ cash spent funding trade union facility time
Source: Cabinet Office data
* If an FOI is not linked to above, you can request a copy by emailing us on [email protected]