Cornwall Council Shame

...By Heidi Blake 7:00AM BST 28 May 2011

The council’s credit card statements show it has spent almost £9 million on items from home cinema systems to silk ties and hotels around the world.

Councillors or executives at the local authority have travelled to Thailand, India and Honduras.

Tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money was spent at hotels and restaurants during overseas trips, which also included visits to Spain and Japan.

Last night, after being given three days to justify the expenditure, the council was only able to give a brief defence for a handful of the items. Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph show how officials and councillors used the credit cards to pay for luxury items including £1,051.63 on “pure silk ties” and £1,652.15 on a home cinema.

They also spent thousands on disco equipment, fish tanks and musical instruments.

The credit cards were used to spend more than £1 million on advertising and publicity as well as more than £200,000 on training and conferences and £500,000 on stationery and office equipment.

Highland council, Inverness, had the third-highest credit card bill, with £2.8 million spent on items including electric guitars and a stay in a South African lodge featuring saunas and hot tubs.

Wrexham, the fourth highest spender, ran up hotel bills of £14,000 and paid £37,000 for staff training. Staff at Bury council, which spent the fifth highest amount, splashed out on flights to

Canada and expensive restaurant meals, as well as running up a £24,000 bill with local travel agents.

Cornwall’s credit card bill is in stark contrast to those submitted by dozens of other councils, who spent little or nothing on their cards.

...HERE'S THAT LIST IN FULL...

Total: £8,973,444
Maintenance: £615,913	Training: £615,913
Other: £2,170,990	Stationery: £536,307
Legal: £622,690	Furniture: £674,445
IT equipment: £386,804	Travel: £905,384
Publicity: £1,352,458	Food: £26,542
Hotels: £1,145,160	Drink: £31,734
Misc: £219,459	Hospitality: £82,127