Civil servants waste public money on massages

OUTRAGEOUS civil service ­spending under Labour was laid bare yesterday after new figures revealed public cash was lavished on ­massages, jazz workshops and even a trip to the seaside.

 1 673 was spent on massage £1,673 was spent on massage

The shocking figures, including almost £20,000 spent at football clubs and racecourses, will dismay hard-pressed taxpayers.

More than £5,000 was spent at Manchester City and £1,359 at ­Manchester United for “learning and development”. And £8,000 was splashed out at Newmarket racecourse on “technical training” events. A further £3,670 went to cycle firm Halfords.

Staff also got £1,600 for massages and £3,000 to Improwise, a workshop which uses a live jazz quartet to demonstrate skills.

Workers even had £539 spent on them for a day out to Blackpool pleasure beach and £626.75 on a trip to Attenborough Nature Centre, near Nottingham.

An astonishing £635,000 also went on taxis and chauffeur-driven cars.

And £1,673 was paid to Stress Angels, a ­company that offers on-site corporate massage and specialises in ­acupressure, Indian head massage and reflexology. The spending was revealed as the Department of Communities and Local Government published a list of all its running costs over £500 in a bid to promote greater transparency over how public money is spent. It forked out £314million on 1,900 items. There was also a £16million bill for marketing, advertising, ­promotion and events, while £310,000 was spent on catering and food.

The department’s quangos accounted for another £337million.The list revealed the Government Offices for the Regions also ran up bills of more than £100,000 on ­market research and polling last year.

David Cameron said getting Whitehall departments to open up their books would help to bring spending under ­control.

“If civil servants and if ministers and MPs know that the public are going to see how money is spent, it will make them think twice before spending it on something stupid like a massage chair or ­whatever else.”

Local Government Minister Bob Neill said: “It seems, quite literally, the Government Offices for the Regions were taking the taxpayer for a ride.

“They were living it up at the ­taxpayers’ expense while ­thousands of households were ­struggling to make ends meet.”

The Government Offices for the Regions are being abolished by the coalition. Communities Secretary Eric ­Pickles said: “The simple task of putting ­spending online will open the doors to an army of armchair auditors who will be able to see at a glance exactly where millions of pounds spent last year went.

“The public and the press can go through the books and hold ­ministers to account for how ­taxpayers’ money is being spent.

“The data is already showing how we need to do things differently. That means spending more carefully, getting better deals and asking ourselves at every turn whether every purchase is needed and whether it provides value for the taxpayers’ pound.

“Looking at last year’s spending it is clear that there is room for improvement.”

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Millions of taxpayers’ money has been wasted.”

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