Tickets, gadgets, shows - the gifts given to civil servants are revealed

iPads were among the gifts offered to civil servants

Wimbledon tickets, iPads and bottles of Champagne are among the thousands of gifts public officials have been showered with by businesses and institutions, an investigation by the spending watchdog has found.

Civil servants have been treated to dinners at some of London’s swankiest restaurants, sent hampers from Fortnum & Mason and secured invitations to private viewings of art exhibitions and movie premieres.

One official was sent a painting worth £300, while others were given tickets to FA Cup semi-finals and tours of the Harry Potter film studios, according to the report by the National Audit Office (NAO).

Perks have also been extended to family members, the inquiry found, with the husbands, wives and children of Whitehall’s most powerful mandarins given tickets to events like the Olympics opening ceremony, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, music recitals and operas on 35 occasions.

Major Government contractors PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Deloitte and BAE Systems were all in the top five organisations providing hospitality.

The watchdog said it had “concerns” about some of the gifts that and warned of the “substantial” risk to the Government’s reputation that some posed.

It found some “weaknesses” in the way hospitality is monitored and controlled and called for the rules to be toughened up.

NAO head Amyas Morse said: “Public officials are sometimes offered gifts and hospitality by external stakeholders which it is reasonable for them to accept. This can, however, present a risk of actual or perceived conflicts of interest, and undermine value for money or affect the Government’s reputation.”