Items from Toys R Us, rooms at luxury hotels, entrance to the prestigious Plage Goéland in Cannes and payments to a company specialising in luxury yacht equipment have been charged to cards held by members of the Welsh government.
Over the past five years spending on 237 procurement cards held by Welsh civil servants has averaged £1.5m a year, raising concerns about their use.
The first breakdown of spending, for 2015/16, reveals that £279.90 was spent at Toys R Us, £103.91 at Victoria’s Secret and £832.81 at Ikea, despite the government having a contract with a furniture and office supply company.
The 259-page list from the Wales Audit Office reveals that Welsh government credit cards were used on three occasions to pay for rooms at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo, at a total cost of £1,450.76. The luxury hotel features manmade waterfalls, a golf driving range, tennis courts, the largest hotel pool in central Tokyo and a traditional Japanese garden.
Other hotel charges made on the cards include £9,043.79 on rooms at the five-star Raffles hotel in Beijing, whose website says it has been “for nearly a century been the choice of visiting royalty and diplomats, VIPs and film stars”.
The cards were billed on two occasions for the €10 entry fee to the private Plage Goéland beach in Cannes.
A Welsh government spokesman said the Victoria’s Secret charge was a “fraudulent item” and the money had been returned. He declined to say when the purchase was challenged and the issue resolved.
The spokesman said a payment to the luxury yacht equipment supplier Yachtshop was for fenders for one of the government’s fishery protection vessels. The Toys R Us charge was for a training game for a staff workshop. The hotel fees, he said, “relate to promotional activity to sell Wales abroad”.
A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives questioned the government’s response and said the payments were a telling insight into what the cards were being used for.
He said: “How was the Victoria’s Secret payment made? When was it returned? Today? I think the fraud thing highlights how easily these cards can be misused. Did a staff member accidentally use this card and, if so, how often does that happen?
“Also, it is interesting that the best hotels in the world are being used for promotion. And £290 for a staff training game? What game costs that much and meaningfully contributes to staff training?”
The Welsh shadow finance minister, Nick Ramsay, said: “Huge sums of public money continue to be spent on Welsh government credit cards, with staff having racked up £7.5m in bills since 2011.
“While we accept that procurement cards have a role to play in reducing the bureaucratic cost of processing small claims, the number of staff with access to them continues to grow and some of the claims involved are eye-watering and require explanation.
“Millions of pounds are being spent on these cards, and the public needs to have confidence that the system isn’t being abused and that the taxpayer is getting value for money,” he added.
A Welsh government spokesperson defended the spending. “The use of procurement cards is common across all central government departments in the United Kingdom. They are an efficient way of ordering and paying for small-value goods and services, and reduce administration costs. Procurement cards also provide flexibility, particularly when staff are travelling and last-minute costs need to be incurred,” the official said.
“All purchases made on procurement cards are reviewed and approved retrospectively by line managers, and subject to regular audit. As a result of our rigorous internal audit processes, we are content that transactions are in line with Welsh government business objectives.”
Lee Canning, Wales coordinator for the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the spending was shocking. “Taxpayers’ money is meant to pay for essential services. Hard-pressed families across Wales will be shocked to the core that part of a huge £7.5m procurement card bill, which they will be picking up, has gone towards luxury items and expensive hotel stays that many cannot afford themselves,” he said.
“When times are hard and every department is having to find necessary savings, this level of profligacy is utterly irresponsible and disrespectful … People expect their taxes to pay for hospitals and roads, not to be wasted on lingerie and luxuries.”
