Welsh civil servants charged £750,000 to government credit cards
It has been revealed that civil servants who were promoting Welsh businesses overseas charged nearly £750,000 to 35 separate government credit card accounts. The information was obtained by the Liberal Democrat party using the Freedom of Information Act and has created something of a storm in political circles with accusations that cost controls have failed miserably.
The International Business Wales (IBW) operation has been seen to charge tens of thousands of pounds on air travel and top of the range hotels across the world. Even though the Welsh assembly has stepped into the argument, to suggest that every viable business opportunity needs to be pursued and considered on behalf the Welsh economy, many people find it difficult to tally up the expense of the IBW with the amount of business it has created and the overall size of the Welsh economy.
Many people may be surprised to learn that the IBW has offices in places such as New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris even though these may overlap with existing UK authority offices in these regions. There is no doubt we will hear more about this saga which has the potential to open up a whole new can of worms with regards to political expenditure and the cost of running the UK public sector.
Share this..
Related stories
UK government set to backtrack on bank share sales
Despite hopes that the UK government would very soon be able to sell off the £70 billion worth of bank shares acquired over the last few months, it now appears as though the authorities are set to backtrack on this initial timescale. As we covered over the weekend, a number of advisers have stepped forward to suggest that the UK authorities may struggle to sell shares with a value in excess of £...
Read MoreLloyds Bank and UK government at loggerheads
It has been revealed this evening that Lloyds Bank and the UK Treasury are at serious loggerheads over the proposed £250 million toxic asset insurance deal. It appears as though Lloyds Bank is unwilling to pay the substantial premium demanded by the authorities which is rumoured to be larger than that charged to the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is effectively under government control. So what ne...
Read MoreUK families and the £1250 a year tax rise to cover runaway government debt
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) ahead of the government's budget on 22 April has highlighted the severe deterioration in the finances of the UK economy. The IFS believes that the UK government has yet to account for the losses to the tune of £130 billion from various funding arrangements with nationalised UK banks. As a consequence, the government will need to find around £39...
Read MoreShould The Barnett Formula Be Changed?
A report into how the UK government income is shared out amongst the home nations has opened up what could well turn into a very ugly debate. Over the last few years we have see more and more English citizens comment upon the amount of income the likes of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland receive per person compared to England. A new report shows that in the 2007/08 tax year England received...
Read MoreRoyals 'cost each taxpayer 66p a year'
The royal family cost the British taxpayer around £40 million in the 2007/08 financial year, a new report reveals.This is equivalent to 66p of each person's annual tax bill - up from 2006/07's total of 62p.A rise in royal transport costs was blamed for the increase, although royal representatives claimed that the cost remained 3.1 per cent below that of 2001, in real terms.Keeper of the privy pur...
Read More