‘Welsh Government card spending out of control’ – claim

WELSH Government credit cards have been used to pay for hundreds of pounds’ worth of scarves and chocolates while thousands has been spent on luxury dining and hotels, figures reveal.

More than £1.8m was spent on government credit cards in 2016/17 including £1,652.50 on seven visits to the Michelin-starred James Sommerin Restaurant in Penarth, where a sixcourse taster menu costs £70, or £110 with wine. The figures, which are released on the Welsh Government website, have been analysed by the Welsh Conservatives, who described the spending as “out of control”.

Purchases include £1,876.65 with Metropolitan Limousine, a Chicago car hire company, in September last year, the same month as First Minister Carwyn Jones visited the US city to discuss trade. Also in September, £3,204.32 was spent on accommodation at the fourstar luxury Sofitel Chicago hotel.

In July last year it emerged that £7.5m had been spent on the authority’s cards, known officially as procurement cards, in the five years from 2011, including £103.91 at lingerie store Victoria’s Secret.

A spokesman for the Welsh Government said then that that amount had been repaid after an investigation found it to be fraudulent but other purchases were “in line with Welsh Government business objectives”.

Purchases in 2016/17 included £460 for fixtures and fittings from Ikea, £698 to Conwy-based store Quilting Bee.

Meanwhile, £1,001 was spent on four dates at Zip World Limited, the company that runs three zip line and adventure sites in North Wales.

A further £3,792 was spent with American stock photography agency Getty Images, while £3,049.20 was spent on clothing at Fashionscarfworld. com, a scarf wholesaler that offers free delivery on orders over £180.

Smaller purchases included £3.63 with online card retailer Moonpig.com and £2 spent in discount book and stationery shop, the Works.

Shadow finance secretary Nick Ramsay said: “The bill for Welsh Government credit cards is out of control, with staff spending more and more each year. The public needs to have confidence that the system isn’t being abused.”

Mr Ramsay, who called for the system to be investigated by the Auditor General for Wales, said the reason for having the cards was to “reduce the bureaucratic cost of processing small claims – “not to make it easy to splash the cash with impunity in lavish restaurants and boutique hotels”.