Council business trips cost £53,000

Sep 5 2007 By Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

CITY council bosses and staff have been slammed for enjoying a jet-set lifestyle at the taxpayers' expense.

During the age of budget airlines and low cost travel, flights taken by Birmingham City Council staff cost an average of £500 each.

While the 107 flights taken in the last 12 months include trips to Australia, the Caribbean and China, the vast majority are to European cities covered by budget carriers such as Easyjet and bmibaby.

Details of the globetrotting trips were uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by the West Midlands branch of political lobby group Taxpayers Alliance.

It showed that 107 flights were taken at a total cost of £53,000, of which £39,000 was covered by City Council expenses. The remainder was paid by event hosts.

Last month the Mail revealed that staff had been sent on all expenses paid trips to see shopping facilities in Milan, Dublin Zoo, the World Choir Games in China, a library in Minneapolis, street lighting in Shanghai and the Cannes Film Festival.

Alliance spokeswoman Fiona McEvoy said: "It's bad enough that taxpayers are subsidising these junkets to far flung locations without the fares being at inflated, non-economy prices."

Recently Birmingham City Council has made a concerted effort to cut the junkets, with Tory Councillor Tim Huxtable earning the nickname the 'smiling assassin' after ruthlessly culling many trips.

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: "There are rigorous criteria set before any overseas trip is organised. The council must be able to demonstrate that there is a job to be undertaken and a practical benefit to the city to be obtained from the visit.

"We are a leading player on the international stage, which means that we have to make flights to attend many different events to ensure the Birmingham is recognised as a global city.

"Low-cost carriers are used as much as possible, and travel by other transport methods such as train is always encouraged where they can be used."

He added that foreign links forged on trips had generated investment of millions of pounds of in Birmingham.