Ever wondered why the country is nearly bankrupt? Well, I have tabled Parliamentary questions to almost every Government Department asking how much money they had spent going to conferences, between the years 2000-2010.
However, to its credit, the Department for Work and Pensions, did give me a proper reply, which you might like to see below:
Departmental Conferences
Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of
expenditure by his Department and its predecessors on (a) organising and (b) attending conferences in each year since 1997. [5938]
Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions was formed in June 2001 from the Department of Social Security (DSS), the Employment Service (ES) and some parts of the Department for Education and Employment (DFEE) and no information is available before that time.
The Department does not hold a central record of the total cost of organising and attending conferences. However, identifiable expenditure for management conferences and external meetings are provided in the following table:
| £ million | |
| (1) The accounts for 2009-10 have not been finalised therefore are subject to change. | |
These figures do not include expenditure incurred by the non-departmental public bodies:
Health and Safety Executive; or
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, since its inception in 2008-09
Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con): Has the Leader of the House seen early-day motion 454 on the cost of Government conferences?
[That this House notes that the Department for Work and Pensions spent £115 million on management conferences and external meetings between 2000 and 2010; further notes that most departments have refused to supply similar figures in answer to written questions, arguing that statistics on conferences are not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost; believes that the British public have a fundamental right to know how their taxes are spent by Government departments, and that Freedom of Information requests are being sent to every department which has refused to answer; and finally notes that the £115 million spent by the Department for Work and Pensions under the previous administration on management conferences and external meetings appears t o be a gross waste of taxpayer s ’ money, given that the public debt increased to over £900 billion in early 2010.]
May we have an urgent debate on Government waste, given that the Department for Work and Pensions revealed to me in a written answer that it spent £115 million going to conferences in the past 10 years?
Sir George Young: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for identifying areas in which central Government can reduce the cost of administration. I see that his early-day motion does indeed identify some very large sums of money that have been spent on conferences and external meetings. I will communicate with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General and get a response on the issues my hon. Friend raises.
