Revealed: The Yorkshire council that spent £3,568 on a turkey dinner

Bradford Council used the cash for a two-course Christmas meal at one full council meeting for up to 90 councillors and 20 officers, at a time of the economic downturn and rising council tax rates.

The cost of the festive dinner – which would have paid for more than 1,000 meals-on-wheels – emerged following a Freedom of Information request which also revealed spending on refreshments at council meetings rose at half of Yorkshire's councils in 2009-10, despite the looming cuts to frontline services.

Bradford Council spent a total of 32,380 in the last financial year on refreshments, up by six per cent on 2008-09.

The two-course meal – described as "very average" by one councillor – was a turkey dinner with vegetables and a Christmas pudding but did not include alcohol. Its expenditure compares with Ryedale Council and Craven Council, which have both spent nothing on refreshments at full council meetings for two years.

Last night there were calls for all catering for council and committee meetings in Bradford to be immediately suspended and for an urgent inquiry to take place. For the previous two years the most the authority had paid for refreshments at single meetings was around 2,500.

The Minister for Local Government, Grant Shapps, has called on councils to stop high spending on refreshments.

He said: "The days of taking the taxpayer for a ride are over. We must deliver value for money and I believe our plans to throw open the books of councils will put an end to wasteful spending.

"If councils cut out a culture of excess which means calling time on spending thousands of taxpayers' cash on refreshments they can protect frontline services."

The leader of Bradford Council's Tory group, Anne Hawkesworth, said: "I am shocked and appalled by the cost of the meal which has been identified. This is totally unacceptable.

"For the apparent cost, you would expect a Royal banquet with wine included, which it was not.

"Personally I think that council teas for meetings are a thing of the past. We have austere times ahead and this sort of spending must be looked at in the context of prioritising frontline services. I am confident that the public would consider the removal of council teas as a harmless saving."

Coun Matt Palmer added: "While it's reasonable when council meetings often mean 16-hour days to expect something, this cost is beyond absurd.

"All catering for council and committee meetings should be immediately suspended until a value for money service can be provided. I will be asking the corporate overview and scrutiny committee to conduct an urgent inquiry."

Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood said members were reviewing whether refreshments should be provided. "We are currently reassessing the provision of refreshments at council meetings to cut costs," he said.

But a spokesman for the authority said attendance at full council meetings was always high and many members attended straight from work. Special arrangements can also be made for councillors to receive halal food from an external provider, if required.

The biggest increases in refreshment costs came at local authority meetings in Leeds, Selby and Wakefield. But North East Lincolnshire and Craven local authorities have made big cuts to refreshments at meetings.