...but £6m lavished on awards

COUNCILS have spent almost £6.6million on award ceremonies over the past three years, according to a report out yesterday.

This averages out at around £18,000 per local authority, the TaxPayers’ Alliance said.

The biggest spender was Derbyshire County Council, which paid out £218,483 between 2015/16 and 2017/18. Some councils, including Kent, Ealing and Lambeth, have sponsors for events.

John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said awards ceremonies were ‘unnecessary extravagances’.

But the Local Government Association said events recognising local businesses and volunteers, for example, were ‘worth far more to communities and local economies than their cost’.