Gloucestershire councils pay out £217,000 on refreshments
More than £42,000 of public money was spent on providing refreshments at Gloucester City Council meetings last year, The Citizen has discovered.
Figures released under Freedom of Information laws reveal that, during 2007/08, the council splashed out an average of more than £100 on food and drinks at every full council meeting, committee meeting and mayoral engagement.
-
Among the items on the menu for councillors were vol au vents, satay chicken sticks and cream cakes, as well as sandwiches, biscuits, tea and coffee.
Marcus Grodentz, spokesman for the council, said the expenditure reflected the workload of councillors.
He said: “Gloucester is the county capital and also a Cathedral city.
“As such it gets more calls upon it at member and civic level than perhaps some of the other county districts. Most councillors have full-time jobs and the vast majority of meetings have to take place in the evenings.
“Refreshments are provided as councillors wouldn’t normally have time to get home first. What is served is a question of horses for courses.
“Sometimes, if a meeting is due to start at 5.30pm and councillors will likely be there until very late, we might provide something more than just your basic sandwiches and biscuits. But it is certainly not the case all the time.”
In total, Gloucestershire councils’ combined refreshments bill between April 2005 and the present day topped £217,000.
Gloucestershire County Council spent £58,026 over the last five years, although the annual outlay has dropped every year from a high of £27,000 in 2004/05 to £6,380 in 2007/08.
Leader of the council Barry Dare promised further cuts in the future.
He said: “Next year, the cost will fall even further, as I’ve stopped refreshments for cabinet meetings.”
Forest of Dean District Council’s bill came to £21,248 since 2005.
Spokesman Tony Wisdom said councillors had to attend more than 200 meetings every year and were often forced to travel a long way to reach them.
He said: “I think if they couldn’t expect a cup of tea and some refreshments when they got there, that wouldn’t be very fair.”
Tewkesbury Borough Council, which spent £11,778 over the four years, said it had recently stopped providing refreshments because of the spiralling bill, while Stroud District Council failed to reply to the Freedom of Information request.
Cheltenham Borough Council said it did not have the figures.
The revelations caused Susie Squire, campaign manager fo the Taxpayers’ Alliance, to attack the refreshments bill as a waste of money.
She said: “It seems an outrageous amount of taxpayers’ money to spend on food and drink. Councillors should pay for their refreshments out of their own pocket, just like the rest of us.”
Click here for more news from Gloucester
Click here for more news from Cheltenham
Click here for more news from Stroud
Click here for more news from the Forest of Dean
Click here for more news from the Cotswolds
Click here for more news from Tewkesbury
88 Comments
View all
by dino, tewkesbury
Saturday, February 28 2009, 10:59AM
“i really try to care!
honestly i do!
but actually i don't
LET THEM EAT CAKE
do we really need a local rag when this is all they have to write about?
save me jeebers!!!!”
by chris, glos
Thursday, February 26 2009, 9:43AM
“SO THATS WERE ALL OUR COUNCIL TAX GOES....TO THE BIG FAT CATS .....LUNCH AND DINNER PARTIES... COUNCILS WHAT A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY,THIS COUNTRY ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER ,BUT AS LONG AS THE COUNCILS HAVE THERE FUNCTIONS .THEY ARE OK”
by Team Shabba, Tuffley, Glos
Thursday, February 26 2009, 2:10AM
“Derek Rymer, stop trying to sponge of the goverment, you big cheapo!
To all the fatties at the council, try to buy tesco value snacks insted of the more expensive option”
by Alphonso, Gloucester
Wednesday, February 25 2009, 5:12PM
“I have no objection to councillors having refreshments, but surely they recieve expenses with which they could purchase refresments. I don't think there is a case for free refreshments and expense payments.”
by Councillor Allen Keyte, Tewkesbury Borough
Wednesday, February 25 2009, 11:19AM
“The amount that Tewkesbury Borough paid out for refreshments in the first 9 months of the current year was £472.00 - because we cut out most refreshments from April 2008 in our efforts to provide better services at lower costs. This process is continuing.”
by Anon, Gloucester
Wednesday, February 25 2009, 11:02AM
“Perhaps the Editor of the Citizen will now refuse the hospitality of the City when he is invited to Civic events and other council meetings? Ian Mean put down that tuna sandwich!”
by Dean, FOD
Wednesday, February 25 2009, 7:42AM
“Message for Derek Rymer. A decent bathroom suite is about £250-£300. Do what most hard working people do and buy your own. You can obviously can afford to purchase a computer!”
by Norman Miles, Chengdu,China
Wednesday, February 25 2009, 12:39AM
“It is such a little amount,and just a modest snack....Pass the Caviar sandwiches Fred.N.S.Miles”
by Phil, Cheltenham
Tuesday, February 24 2009, 10:50PM
“I think this is really good, our councillors do a good job, why should they not have refreshments ?. They should get cakes too!!, at least some of our taxes don't all go to the lazy people who don't seem to moan when their kids are eating free school meals or they are smoking their free fags, stop moaning and get back to daytime tv !!”
by Richard, Prom
Tuesday, February 24 2009, 9:43PM
“Mmmmm, sarnies taste so much better when they are free, I love my job!”