Salford Council bosses £68,000 expenses bill
Mad Magno men run Salford CouncilCOUNCIL officials ran up a bill of nearly £70,000 on an expense account - for claims including first class rail travel, luxury hotels, meals in top restaurants - and 80 TOY MEN.
Eighteen top officers and two leading councillors at Salford town hall charged £68,768 over the course of a year, we can reveal.
The claims included a restaurant bill of £846 - and another to pay for paracetamol and plasters.
The expenses were run up on special bank `purchasing cards' - available for the officials to use on top of their normal expenses claims.
The cards - issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland - were also used to buy food from Tesco, books, and to pay for the recruitment of staff.
Leaked
Up to now the council has not published details of the payments. But it has agreed to provide bank statements detailing each transaction after the expenses was leaked a table of expenditure for 2008-09 using the cards.
And after our inquiries, council leader John Merry has now decided that in future details of the spending using the cards will be published.
Councillors' normal annual allowances and expenses are already published on the council website.
The figures show that Coun Merry (LABOUR / COUNCIL LEADER) spent £11,541 on the cards and council chief executive Barbara Spicer - who earns £136,000 a year - spent £9,465.
Deputy council leader David Lancaster (LABOUR) spent £3,616 on hotel accommodation and restaurant meals, but half of the amount was reimbursed by other organisations.
Greater Manchester Police Authority - financed by the taxpayer - paid for some of his hotels and travel to London costing £1,118.
The officer who spent most - £31,094 - was David McIlroy, head of programme and project management. He and his team are responsible for supporting major programmes like Building Schools for the Future and MediaCity:UK. He paid more than £25,000 to a head-hunting agency, Arras People, for finding staff to work for the council.
Appropriate
He also flew from Edinburgh to attend a training course in London at a cost of £410. His bosses advised him it was more appropriate than driving from Salford to catch a train to London and back, and then driving to Scotland.
Deputy chief executive Kevin Brady spent £591 on train tickets for three council delegates to attend a government conference in London on unemployment.
The city's director of communications, Susan Wildman, spent £204 for an annual subscription to the Institute of Public Relations.
Among other items bought were 80 hair-ee Magno men which were purchased to be used as props in a training exercise.
The rope figure toys with magnets for hands and feet and zany faces cost about £2 each but £163.91 worth were purchased by David Horsler, assistant director of human resources.
Mr Horsler also spent £9.55 on bread, coffee, milk, paracetamol tablets, and plasters from Tesco in Glossop. They were for `kitchen/hospitality supplies' and the `replenishment of first-aid kit'.
A council spokesman said the Magno men were `re-usable and available to any city council employee who needs them if they are delivering training'.
Gary Tumulty, Branch Membership Secretary.
The British National Party - Salford Branch.
For more info contact, Email: bnpsalford@live.co.uk
Eighteen top officers and two leading councillors at Salford town hall charged £68,768 over the course of a year, we can reveal.
The claims included a restaurant bill of £846 - and another to pay for paracetamol and plasters.
The expenses were run up on special bank `purchasing cards' - available for the officials to use on top of their normal expenses claims.
The cards - issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland - were also used to buy food from Tesco, books, and to pay for the recruitment of staff.
Leaked
Up to now the council has not published details of the payments. But it has agreed to provide bank statements detailing each transaction after the expenses was leaked a table of expenditure for 2008-09 using the cards.
And after our inquiries, council leader John Merry has now decided that in future details of the spending using the cards will be published.
Councillors' normal annual allowances and expenses are already published on the council website.
The figures show that Coun Merry (LABOUR / COUNCIL LEADER) spent £11,541 on the cards and council chief executive Barbara Spicer - who earns £136,000 a year - spent £9,465.
Deputy council leader David Lancaster (LABOUR) spent £3,616 on hotel accommodation and restaurant meals, but half of the amount was reimbursed by other organisations.
Greater Manchester Police Authority - financed by the taxpayer - paid for some of his hotels and travel to London costing £1,118.
The officer who spent most - £31,094 - was David McIlroy, head of programme and project management. He and his team are responsible for supporting major programmes like Building Schools for the Future and MediaCity:UK. He paid more than £25,000 to a head-hunting agency, Arras People, for finding staff to work for the council.
Appropriate
He also flew from Edinburgh to attend a training course in London at a cost of £410. His bosses advised him it was more appropriate than driving from Salford to catch a train to London and back, and then driving to Scotland.
Deputy chief executive Kevin Brady spent £591 on train tickets for three council delegates to attend a government conference in London on unemployment.
The city's director of communications, Susan Wildman, spent £204 for an annual subscription to the Institute of Public Relations.
Among other items bought were 80 hair-ee Magno men which were purchased to be used as props in a training exercise.
The rope figure toys with magnets for hands and feet and zany faces cost about £2 each but £163.91 worth were purchased by David Horsler, assistant director of human resources.
Mr Horsler also spent £9.55 on bread, coffee, milk, paracetamol tablets, and plasters from Tesco in Glossop. They were for `kitchen/hospitality supplies' and the `replenishment of first-aid kit'.
A council spokesman said the Magno men were `re-usable and available to any city council employee who needs them if they are delivering training'.
Gary Tumulty, Branch Membership Secretary.
The British National Party - Salford Branch.
For more info contact, Email: bnpsalford@live.co.uk
