Council credit card spending revealed

Dec 23 2011 By Craig Robertson

Friday Standard

A £2.99 RETIREMENT card from funkypigeon.com is the smallest spend on a council credit card bill thats nearing £730,000.

Tens of thousands of pounds have been spent on flights around the world and hotels in countries such as America, Canada, Sweden and France.

Hundreds more have been shelled out on restaurants and hospitality.

The details have been obtained by the Standard during an investigation into the use of what are known within the council as purchase cards.

It comes as councillors yesterday went through a £10 million list of cuts to services and jobs.

See a copy of the FoI Request here

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows a total of £728,955 was spent on the cards over a three-year period.

The local authority's bill sat at £231,163 in 2008/09; £246,314 in 2009/10 and £251,478 in 2010/11.

They reveal how council staff and elected members are travelling throughout the UK and across the globe to attend meetings, conferences and functions.

Hundreds of thousands were also spend at retailers such as Tesco and Asda where items have been put on plastic for the day to day operation of the local authority.

For the full story, see today's Standard.