NAO under more expenses fire
Thousands of pounds spent on fine dining in some of London's most expensive restaurants 'impossible to fathom' says MP
The National Audit Office has come under a renewed barrage of criticism for
its ‘spendthrift culture’.
MPs levelled fresh claims of wastefulness at the body-responsible for keeping
an eye on spending in government departments- after more examples of the NAO’s
generous entertainment regime came to light.
Detractors seized upon meals for visiting audit delegations in particular.
NAO chiefs managed to rack up a £1,600.86 bill at a top Knightsbridge restaurant
while entertaining 10 Croatian envoys.
Another trip to Wiltons in Mayfair with a delegation from the Tunisian court
of auditors cost the taxpayer £1,203.50.
‘There seems to be a cancer within the NAO,’ Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker
told the Sunday Times. ‘There is a spendthrift culture that seems endemic.’
The NAO said that the level of spending reflected the standing of the guests.
Further reading:
NAO
now needs to get its house in order