Performance rights to show the musical Grease, skateboards, and a machine to repel dangerous dogs were among the items bought on council credit cards, figures have shown.
Local authorities have spent nearly £150 million on credit or procurement cards since 2007, including significant sums on meals, hotel stays and functions. Despite the huge spend, half of Scotland’s councils cannot detail exactly what the cash has been spent on, despite a tightening of budgets. The breakdown was obtained by the Scottish Conservatives under Freedom of Information.
Aberdeenshire Council spent £1,100 bid to have the rights to show the John Travolta and Olivia Newton John classic and £500 on a “safer sex box”, while Argyll and Bute spent £700 in plush restaurant Planet Hollywood. Other examples from the past two years include East Ayrshire spending £100 on a Santa suit, £500 on skateboards, £30 on a “dog dazer”, £400 on glowstick necklaces, and a similar amount on two deluxe hairdryers. Also included in the breakdown was East Lothian Council forking out £900 at Walt Disney Theatrical in London and Moray Council spending £2,000 on theatre tickets.
Among the smaller items revealed were £15 on the Guinness Book of World Records for Midlothian Council and a £35 investment from Fife Council trialling Facebook adverts.
Dundee City Council didn’t respond to the Freedom of Information request so I have contacted the council’s head of democratic and legal services to find out why this was.
