The Minister for Local Government took seven policy officials on a trip to see Welsh MPs for a ‘briefing’ in London, at a total cost of £1,000 to the taxpayer.
That’s according to information obtained by the Welsh Conservatives.
The meeting – held to brief MPs on ‘Welsh clauses of the Localism Bill’ – took place earlier this year.
Answering a Written Assembly Question, the Minister said: “I planned to travel to the meeting by train but used an official car when we became aware of the potential for significant train delays caused by flooding…one official accompanied me in the car. The remaining officials travelled … by train.”
Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Assembly, Nick Bourne AM (pictured), said: “Taking a mini army of civil servants to a briefing in London – at a cost of £1,000 – is quite frankly over the top.
“What makes it worse is that six of them plainly made up an elite group of expendables.
“While they all piled onto the train, the Minister abandoned his ticket and went by official car, because of the ‘potential for delays’ on the railway.
“Quite simply – this farcically bloated trip was inefficient and unwarranted.
“While I am happy that the Minister is communicating with MPs in London, there is simply no need for grandiose parades of officials expensively marching from Wales for a ‘briefing’.”
Shadow Minister for Local Government, Jonathan Morgan AM, said: “As he trundled down the M4 to talk about a Bill that deals with efficiency and transparency in government, the Minister was plainly clocking up his very own, very large, and very inefficient bill.
“Localism is all about empowering communities. I suspect there are many that would object to this unnecessary waste of public money.”
