Minister criticises ‘culture of excess’ councils

CABINET Minister Eric Pickles today attacks the “culture of excess” at many councils as the Yorkshire Post publishes a second day’s revelations over spending on domestic and foreign trips for public sector employees.

Mr Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary, called on authorities to “think twice before they reach for the corporate credit card” after this newspaper uncovered details of the hundreds of thousands of pounds spent each year on flights and hotels.

On Saturday, the Yorkshire Post revealed the spending of a series of public bodies, including Bradford Council – which has been paying out an average £9,000 a month on trips over the past two years – and an NHS trust in Doncaster, which spent thousands on missions to Vancouver, Norway and Sweden.

Today, in the second part of our exposé, we reveal that:

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Leeds City Council has spent £150,000 on flights and hotel accommodation since 2007. This includes £11,000 on flights alone for the mayor and entourage to make two visits to China, in 2009 and 2010, £5,500 to send staff to a conference in Milan, and £1,300 sending councillors to a conference in Bournemouth.

In the south of the region, Rotherham Council spent £35,000 over three years sending staff to local authority awards ceremonies across England.

Hull City Council has been spending an average of £1,000 a month on flights for the past three years including trips to San Francisco, Beijing and the Ivory Coast, while Richmondshire District Council, one of the smallest authorities in the region, spent almost £5,000 over a four-month period on flights and hotels for an interim executive who worked four days a week for the council while living in Devon.

Calderdale Council has been spending £1,000 a month on hotel accommodation for its staff over the past three years.

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All the councils have insisted training, conferences and foreign visits are an important part of local authority business.

But Mr Pickles told the Yorkshire Post such expenditure on flights and hotels was typical of the excess he wants to see cut back as part of the Government’s reduction in public spending.

“For far too long taxpayers have been footing the bill for a culture of council excess,” he said.

Mr Pickles, himself a former Tory council leader in Bradford, has had frequent clashes with local authority bosses since being appointed Local Government Secretary last May. His department has slashed council funding by up to a quarter, and now wants all authorities to start publishing details of all spending over £500 on their websites as part of a drive for transparency and local accountability. It says those who do not meet the deadline will face tough questions and tough action if they fail to comply.

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“The reason I have been asking town halls to ‘show me the money’ is so local taxpayers can see how their hard-earned cash is being spent, hold their council to account if they don’t think they are getting value for money, and help councils root out waste,” Mr Pickles said.

“In future councils will think twice before they reach for the corporate credit card.”

The Yorkshire Post sent Freedom of Information requests to every local authority, NHS trust and police force in the region asking for a breakdown of their spending on hotels and flights since 2007.

On Saturday we revealed details of foreign trips and domestic hotel stays at authorities including Bradford City Council and NHS Hull. Public bodies which failed to reveal spending included all four regional police forces.