Council chiefs put £5,500 on plastic

OLDHAM COUNCIL CABINET
COUNCIL credit card holders spent £5,500 on travel, accommodation, car parking, court costs, civic functions and uniforms last year.

The council holds one Visa account with a £56,000 limit and there are eight card holders.

These are the leader of the council, the chief executive, the assistant chief executive, two executive directors, a legal assistant, a civil resilience officer and the leader’s office manager.

Saddleworth Parish Councillor Ken Hulme asked Cabinet members for details of the council credit card following comments made by Eric Pickles at the Conservative Spring Conference in Birmingham earlier this month.

Councillor Lynne Thompson, Cabinet member for finance, said: “All spending by Oldham Council is subject to scrutiny. A credit card is merely a payment mechanism, not a category of expenditure.”

From April, 2010, to February, 2011, £1,550 was spent on court costs, £1,286 on travel, £997 on civic functions, £536 on accommodation, £467 on operational materials, £245 on uniforms, £232 on car parking and £184 on hospitality.

Of the eight card holders, the council leader, assistant chief executive and resilience officer spent nothing, the chief executive spent £1,793, executive directors spent £140, the legal assistant spent £1,550 and the leader’s office manager spent £2,026.

The leader’s office manager’s spend was on travel and accommodation for the leader and costs associated with the Mayor such as refreshments for guests, dry cleaning of the Mayoral robes, car washing and parking charges when the Mayoral car is outside Oldham.