The governmet is expected to announce a “crackdown” on taxpayer-funded credit cards after civil servants were busted splurging on luxury trips and Fortnum & Mason goods. Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden is set to make the announcement this week amid allegations some of the spending may have breached official guidance.
He is expected to announce limits on who can use the cards and what good and services can be bought with them. It comes after the minister’s own department came under fire after using a taxpayer funds to book a £1,820 course about “value for money” weeks after Labour’s General Election win last year.
In July, the Prison and Probation Service was caught spending £814 at a shop listed online as selling retro computer games. In August, the Department for Education spent £7,230 at a Marriott hotel “away day” for civil servants.
Another £1,080 was spent by the Department for Business on the commercial carm of the Royal Academcy of Dramatic Arts, an acting school, in November. The school says it uses “techniques used by some of the world’s most respected performers” to help with speaking and leadership skills.
In December, Angela Rayner’s housing department wasted £609 on hiring out a meeting space at a city farm around a mile away from department offices. In the same month, the Foreign Office splurged almost £11,000 at John Lewis and a further £1,300 at Fortnum & Mason.
David Lammy’s department also expensed £650 with Milton’s Chandeliers, a specialist chandelier firm, while a further £4,100 was spent on a swimming pool cleaning service, records show. A Labour source told The Telegraph the party was serious about taxpayers’ money not being frittered away in an “irresponsible way”.
They said: “To get a grip on the problem, Pat McFadden has ordered an urgent review of who has access to these government credit cards and what they can be used to purchase. We will set out more action in the coming weeks.” Dubious credit-card purchases stretch back as far as 2022, when the Conservatives were in government.
In January 2023, Foreign Office staff spent £920 at the Nassau Yacht Club in Barbados. That same month, £965 was spent at a bowling club in Toronto, Canada, while £2,900 was handed over to an art deco cinema in Wellington, New Zealand.
In October 2023, the Foreign Office declared that it had spent £673 on a website that provides life-size cardboard cutouts of celebrities. According to The Telegraph, the website offers a wide range of celebrity full-size replicas, including one of Harry Styles for £45.
It is understood embassies overseas sometimes use Foreign Office procurement cards to host political and business leaders to promote Britain. In November 2022, the department spent £684 with a Lake District-based leisure company that offers activities including axe-throwing and clay pigeon shooting.
A Government spokesman said: “We are fully focused on tackling wasteful spending and inefficiency across government. That’s why we are carrying out huge reforms to create an agile and productive state. We are fundamentally changing the way public services, civil servants and the UK deliver for the public, building on the first eight months of the Government’s agenda.”
In opposition, Labour relentlessly attacked Tory ministers over their use of Government Procurement Cards.
